Agenda item

To consider the report of the Head of Elections, Licensing and Registration on an application for the grant of a premises licence for the premises known as ‘ Venus International’, 18 Harehills Road, Harehills, Leeds, LS8 5PB

The Head of Elections, Licensing and Registration submitted a report for an application for the grant of a premises licence for Venus International, 18 Harehills Road, Harehills Leeds LS8 5PB. The application was made by Mr Jawad Abdulkadir for the sale of alcohol.

In presenting the report, the Licensing Officer made a correction to paragraph 3.3 to clarify the hours sought as Monday to Saturday 08:00 to 23:00 hours, and Sundays 09:00 to 23:00 hours.

The application had received representations from three local residents; however as none of them attended the hearing, the Sub Committee resolved to consider their written representations and proceed in their absence. It was noted that a fourth representation from a local resident had been withdrawn prior to the hearing. No representations had been received from the responsible authorities. Mr Abdulkadir was in attendance at the hearing; represented by N Raof.

Mr Raof provided the Sub Committee with a brief outline of the applicants’ retail (2-3 years) and one year licensed trade experience. He confirmed that the premises was a convenience store, with a proposed off-licence facility and highlighted the measures offered by Mr Abdulkadir in respect of conditions to be added to the premises licence in order to address the four licensing objectives. Mr Raof suggested that the responsible authorities had not made representations because of the measures proposed by the applicant.

Mr Raof addressed the comments made in the written submissions received.  He reported that, having contacted one of the residents and discussed the application with them, that resident had indicated that they would withdraw their representation. The Licensing Officer confirmed that no formal notification of this had been received from the local resident.

In respect of noise and nuisance, Mr Raof highlighted that there were several licensed premises within a 100 – 300m radius of Venus International. The premise did not currently sell alcohol. Mr Raof indicated that the measures proposed by Mr Abdulkadir were very similar to those operated by larger stores (Challenge 25 measures, provision of CCTV both inside and outside the store with footage retained for 31 days etc)

Responding to questions from the Sub Committee, Mr Raof and Mr Abdulkadir provided the following additional information:

-  In order to address concerns about additional litter, staff will be trained to regularly monitor the outside area and to litter pick

-  In respect of people congregating outside the premises, Mr Raof noted that this was an issue which affected many businesses and there was only so much could be done to encourage people to move on.

-  The applicant intended to work with the Neighbourhood Policing Team

-  The convenience store element of Venus International was already operating. This application was made in response to patrons asking to purchase alcohol as part of their shop. The applicant felt that he would be better able to complete with existing stores in the locality with the provision of alcohol

-  The applicant anticipated that alcohol sales would account for 20% of the stores’ sales, with the full range of alcohol offered

In response to a query about whether packs or single cans of alcohol would be sold; Mr Abdulkadir confirmed through Mr Raof that single cans would be available, although he was aware of the Guidance in respect of the sale of single cans of alcohol. If a condition were to be added to the Premises licence restricting alcohol sales to packs only, this could cause an issue as some of the customers may not require a pack. Mr Raof also suggested that this would be different treatment to the other licensed premises in the area.

The Sub Committee carefully considered the application and the measures offered by the applicant to address the licensing objectives. Members also had regard to the comments made within the representations submitted by the local residents and the response to those comments made by the applicant.

RESOLVED – To grant the application as applied for.

To clarify:

Sale of alcohol for consumption off the premises only

Monday to Saturday   08:00 to 23:00 hours

Sunday   09:00 to 23:00 hours.

Conditions – Those measures offered by the applicant in the pro forma risk assessment within the application shall now be included as conditions on the Operating Schedule attached to the Premises Licence.