Agenda item

Discussion:

The Panel heard an application for a new premises licence for the sale of alcohol in respect of One Stop Stores, 1 - 5 Watling Street, Chatham, Kent.

The application was to enable:

Hours the premises are open to the public

Monday to Sunday            06:00 to 23.00

Hours for the supply of alcohol

Monday to Sunday            06:00 to 23.00

              The Business Development and Licensing Manager advised that the application had been correctly advertised in the press and notices had been displayed on the premises.

              The Business Development and Licensing Manager also advised that the objector had telephoned the council earlier in the day to apologise for being unable to attend the meeting and had submitted a letter asking the panel to take a variety of points into account whilst considering the application.

The panel heard from the applicant that:

·        contact had been made with the objector but they had been unable to resolve any issues. Mr Lee had left his telephone number with the objector so she could contact him should there be any problem in the future

·        One Stop Stores had 515 community based outlets nationwide. These worked with the community for its needs, tried to employ staff from the local area and provide a full range of services for the residents

·        the applicant had worked with the police on this application to alleviate any concerns they should have

·        in response to the issues raised by the objector: previous anti-social behaviour is unknown by the applicant, so they could only explain what would be put in place to overcome any problems; One Stop Shops operated a “Think 25” policy and the cash tills were located by the window so that staff had a clear view outside the shop; there was also a “Staff Safe” system which was a wristband that could activate a recording system should staff feel threatened or have particular problems within the store

·        the traffic and parking objections were not part of the Licensing Objectives – but in response, the store would have three deliveries a week which lasted for approximately 20 minutes. Their policy was to look for local footfall and only advertise in the immediate area

·        there would be a wide range of customers with hours to match the trading hours, eg. night shift workers, people on the way to work looking for presents, etc. who would want to purchase alcohol at an early hour.

The panel asked on behalf of the objector whether the applicant was prepared to accept any alteration to the hours of operation. The applicant responded that the company continued to request the hours applied for and that, in their opinion, everything was in place to eliminate any problems that may occur between the hours of 06:00 to 23:00.

The letter circulated on behalf of the objector stated:

·        that there was a history of anti-social behaviour and underage drinking when the premises last traded as an off-licence. Teenagers had caused noise and damage to the property, with gangs of youths loitering in the private car park intimidating residents

·        the premises were in close proximity to a public house which also had operating hours until 23:00. This might encourage drinkers to leave the pub and buy alcohol to remain drinking on the street after 23:00

·        there was no parking allowed outside the premises and the private car park to the rear was already unable to cope with the level of demand

·        the granting of the hours applied for would be excessive for a local community focussed store and requested that the hours were limited to 10am to 10pm Monday to Saturday and 10am to 6pm on Sunday.

The panel asked about the training of staff and whether it would be possible to train them to make copies of CCTV recordings at the request of the police and/or local authority. The applicant agreed that this would be possible and was happy for it to be added to the conditions of the licence.

The panel also asked the applicant what she would do if there were any problems with the school children at a large school located close to the premises. The applicant responded that if a problem became apparent, she would involve the school and either ask for a teacher to be present to monitor them or restrict the number of children entering and leaving the premises at any one time. This was an ideal location for this type of store and there were many other One Stop Stores located close to schools and so the company was used to dealing with any problems that might occur.

In response to a question about where the alcohol would be sited in the premises, the applicant confirmed that alcoholic spirits would be kept behind the cash tills and other items would be on display in a refrigerated cabinet and open shelving on the far right-hand side of the proposed off licence plan (on page 27 of the agenda).

Decision:

Accordingly, the application was approved as follows:

Hours the premises are open to the public

Monday to Sunday            06:00 to 23.00

Hours for the supply of alcohol

Monday to Sunday            06:00 to 23.00

Conditions:

1.                  mandatory conditions for off-sales.

2.                  conditions as applied for (on the application) as follows:

·              all staff will be trained in relation to the sales of age restricted goods

·              CCTV will be in operation during trading hours. The system will be maintained, record and retain images for a maximum of 28 days and access to these recordings made available to Police and Local Authority officers upon reasonable request

·              An age recognition scheme such as Challenge 25 will be in place. The only acceptable proof of age will be passport, photo driving licence and pass approved ID cards

·              A register of all challenged and refused sales will be maintained

·              A register of all major incidents of crime and disorder will be maintained

·              A system of prompts will be in place to ensure staff undertake age checks on age restricted products

·              The premises will be fitted with an industry standard approved Intruder Alarm System

·              The requirements of the Fire Officer will be complied with and Fire Risk Assessments will be undertaken prior to the premises trading

·              A regular litter pick of the stores external areas will be carried out.

3.         A member of staff must be fully trained in the CCTV system and there will be at least one member of staff on duty during trading hours who is able to retrieve and produce a recording of any incident in a format that can be taken away to be viewed.