A fried chicken shop owner said that he had not realised that his premises could not stay open after 11pm as he sought a 5am licence.
Muhammad Shahzad, who runs Chicken Club, at 72 Western Road, Brighton, made the admission at a Brighton and Hove City Council licensing panel hearing today (Monday 9 January).
The panel heard that Sussex Police officers found Chicken Club open and trading after midnight on Monday 8 August as they carried out Pride weekend checks.
They ordered staff to close up because the business did not have a late-night refreshment licence which is required to sell food and drink after 11pm in Brighton and Hove.
Mr Shahzad has since applied for a 5am licence which could effectively allow his business to become a 24-hour operation.
The police and the council’s licensing department objected to the application.
A report to the council said that Western Road was in the council’s “cumulative impact zone” where licensing policies for late-night takeaways were intended to reduce crime and anti-social behaviour.
Police licensing officer Claire Abdulkader said that in the past year, 280 out of 1,500 incidents reported within a few hundred yards of Chicken Club’s premises occurred between 11pm and 5am.
She told the licensing panel of three councillors that Chicken Club was in Regency ward where mor violent crime happened than any other electoral ward in Brighton and Hove.
Ms Abdulkader asked the panel to refuse the licence and said that Mr Shahzad should reapply with different hours – and should consult the police before submitting a fresh application.
When officers found the business operating outside its licenced hours, PC Vincent Lam said that three 16-year-old boys were eating there after midnight and he arranged to escort them home.
Councillor Dee Simson, who chaired the panel, asked licensing officer Donna Lynsdale whether the council received many complaints about late-night takeaways. Ms Lynsdale said that they did.
Mr Shahzad said that he planned to extend the restaurant kitchen and offer traditional Asian food, saying that when he visited Brighton from London, he felt there weren’t enough options.
He said that there were already other businesses in the area selling hot food until 5am. But the panel was told that existing licences pre-dated the council’s current licensing policy.
Mr Shahzad said: “We have both regular and a growing customer base who require hot food very late at night to the early morning.
“We would make sure customers are not annoying any residents outside the shop so there would be no noise or disturbance in the area.”
The 5am closing time was also flexible, Mr Shahzad said, because he wanted to “make ends meet”.
Sussex Police and the council licensing department said that Mr Shahzad had not shown exceptional circumstances that would justify departing from the council’s policy.
The panel retired to make its decision which should be made public in five working days.
I wouldn’t even eat fried chicken at 3am let alone 5am. Surely anyone out at that time is on the marching powder not after a bargain bucket
So how is he going to make sure there’s no disturbances outside? Pie in the Sky. It’s really a sad indictment of where we are as a Society that these ‘Businessman’ will try any desperate measure for a few more Quid. Could you imagine working there at 04:30 when the lads clock it and decide to try to order food they don’t need just cause they are so off their collective heads.
I’m not in favour of ultra late night take aways, but I think the problem is late night alcohol licences not late night fried chicken.