A new chicken restaurant can stay open for eat-in customers until 1am and for deliveries until 2am after the owner successfully made his case to councillors.
Pepe’s Piri Piri franchisee Faisal Jamil, 27, faced objections when he applied to stay open until 2am at the new restaurant on the ground floor of Ravilious House, in Lewes Road, Brighton.
Sussex Police and Brighton and Hove City Council raised concerns about another late-night venue starting up in a high-crime area that was already “saturated” with similar businesses.
Police licensing officer Claire Abdelkader said that 629 crimes were recorded within a half-mile radius of the shop over the past year. Of those, a third were violent crimes.
At a council licensing panel hearing on Tuesday 18 March, Mr Jamil, a director of Jamil Enterprises Limited, said that five staff were already Security Industry Authority (SIA) trained.
Mr Jamil said that he planned to take the qualification himself to ensure the business was secure from 11pm.
Pepe’s representative, Gulraiz Siddique, 53, director of Architecture and Interior Design Limited, told the hearing that the 10-year-old business had 206 outlets nationally and 15 internationally, with 132 open late, up to 4am.
The licensing panel was made up of three Labour councillors – Julie Cattell, John Hewitt and Alison Thomson.
After they granted the licence, a decision letter from the council to the applicant said: “Consideration was given to earlier closing hours by the panel for collection and dining in view of the police concerns and crime statistics.
“However, on balance, the panel considers permitting the premises to remain open to 1am for eating in and collection will not undermine the licensing objectives.
“The panel were impressed by the professional approach of the applicant. The premises would be part of a larger established franchise with robust practices and procedures including training which would be implemented for staff at these premises.”
The venue will not serve alcohol. And restrictions on the licence require the business to use its own delivery drivers and to close and lock its doors to walk-in customers at 1am.
The new business is due to open in the middle of next month.
Lewes road is a s****y mess.