Late night alcohol sales approved in Herefordshire
The move had been met with resistance from local who said it'd cause more anti-social behaviour.
A new Hereford off-licence can sell alcohol till 2am, despite concerns this will add to anti-social behaviour in the area.
Ako Rasoul sought the late licence for Skyblue Liquor of 60 Commercial Road in the city, previously the Antalya Kebab House.
An anonymised local resident and business had claimed that the area already sees “regular fighting, loud abusive shouting and swearing, and people sitting and lying on the pavements”.
Hereford City Council also said it was “concerned that extensions to licensing hours in this part of the city is having a cumulative effect of adding to noise, disturbance and street disorder”.
Given the objections, the licence application was passed for councillors on Herefordshire’s licensing subcommittee to decide yesterday (November 13).
The council’s own licensing officers had raised no objections, Mr Rasoul’s agent Nick Semper told the meeting, and nor had the police, environmental health, planning, highways, trading standards, public health and children’s safeguarding officers.
The individual objector “cannot stand in the shoes of the police” in giving their views on the impact on law and order, Mr Semper said.
The city council, not represented at the meeting, had meanwhile “shown no evidence of cumulative impact” on the area from the proposal.
The 2am cutoff being sought be Mr Rasoul “is less than or equal to every other licence in the street”, which already has a public spaces protection order (PSPO) in place, he added.
With no further objections to the application, councillors approved it, though the permission to consume alcohol on the premises was withdrawn.