A newsagent’s bid to sell alcohol from its St James’s Street premises has attracted a wave of opposition.
Kanakbhai Patel, who runs Shiv News, has applied to Brighton and Hove City Council to sell alcohol from 9am to 9pm every day.
But as his shop falls within the city centre cumulative impact zone, in which new licences are only granted if they can demonstrate they won’t add to alcohol-related problems, it looks unlikely his bid will succeed.
Roger Rolfe of the Kingscliffe Society objected, saying: “Within this we further note that because of the amount of street drinking in the area most of the licensed supermarkets no longer sell strong lagers and ciders while limiting its availability to the street drinking community. This does not always seem to apply to independent shops.
“We particularly object to the hours of operation with a 9 am start. I know of very few jobs where the availability of alcohol is a necessary adjunct to a morning paper. I hope your department will continue to support hard pressed residents in the face of unalloyed alcohol use.”
The council’s senior licensing officer Sarah Cornell said: “Granting this application is likely to add additional burdens and problems to the already challenging area and although the applicant has put a number of provisions in their operating schedule … I do not believe that the applicant has demonstrated that there are exceptional circumstances to justify departing from the policy.”
Brighton police commander chief superintendent Nev Kemp and two residents also wrote to object.
The application will be decided on Monday by Brighton and Hove’s licensing committee.
Licensing matters often turn upon Sussex Police advice, and this Application looks set to be turned down.