Agenda item

The report of the Chief Officer Elections and Regulatory advises Members of an application for the grant of a premises licence made by Reksio Limited, for

Reksio Mini Market, 5 Middleton District Centre, Ring Road Middleton, Middleton, Leeds, LS10 4AX.

The Chief Officer Elections and Regulatory submitted a report for Members consideration of an application to grant a premises licence made by Reksio Limited, for Reksio Mini Market, 5 Middleton District Centre, Ring Road Middleton, Middleton, Leeds, LS10 4AX.

Attending the meeting were:

• Tony Clarke – JMC Licensing – Applicant’s Representative
• Mohammed Ahmad – Director of Reksio Ltd – Applicant

The Legal officer explained the procedure for the hearing. As there were only two Members on the Sub-Committee, the applicant agreed to proceed with the hearing on this basis.

The Licensing Officer presented the application informing the Members of the following points:

• The application was for the grant of a premises licence made by Reksio Limited, for Reksio Mini Market, 5 Middleton District Centre, Ring Road Middleton, Middleton, Leeds, LS10 4AX.
• The licence was for a newsagent also selling European foodstuffs, situated in a mixed-use retail section of a block of retail units. This was the first licence application made by the premises.
• In summary, the application was for Sale by retail of alcohol (for consumption off the premises) every day 07:00 - 23:00.
• Responsible Authorities and Ward Members had been notified of the application. Negotiations and amendments to the operating schedule had been made, including the provision of CCTV to address issues of anti-social behaviour and youths congregating.
• Two public objection comments had been received, which remained outstanding. The objectors held fears of retribution, personal details had been redacted, the objectors remained anonymous and had thus not attended the hearing.
• A copy of the application form was available at appendix A, a map of the locality at appendix B, agreements with WYP at appendix C, agreements with Councillor Dixon at appendix D, redacted objection comments at appendix E and a list of local licensed premises at appendix F.

The applicant’s representative provided the Sub-Committee with the following information:

• The applicant had owned the premises since October 2023, the premises and previously been a paper shop.
• The applicant had signed a 15 year lease and had refurbished the shop at a substantial cost, showing his long term commitment to the shop and the community.
• With the applicant’s representative having conducted a site visit to the shop a day prior to the hearing, the shop was outlined to be ordered and clean and there were no issues with youths congregating noted.
• Waste bins had been provided outside the shop, one which the applicant paid for at a cost of £1,000 per annum and another bin was approximately 30 yards from the premises within the parade of shops.
• 3 temporary event notice (TEN) licences had been granted for the store to sell alcohol, with no issues reported.
• The applicant noted that if contact details for the objectors had been available, they were happy to liaise with them to address their concerns.
• The two objection comments were noted to be similar with regards to their content and it was queried that they may be the same person.
• The comments regarding litter stemming from the premises were considered not applicable to the shop.
• There were two external and two internal CCTV cameras installed and all CCTV conditions were to be followed.
• With 22 conditions agreed with WYP and an additional 3 with Councillor Dixon, it was noted these were to be followed and will satisfy the concerns raised by objectors.
• The application was considered to be reasonable and appropriate to the premises scale and location and was not proposing to sell alcohol late into the night.

Responding to questions from Members the Sub-Committee were informed of the following by the applicant team:

• Members raised concerns that anti-social behaviour occurred at the parade of shops, and it was hoped the shop would not attract or facilitate this. The negotiations with WYP displayed a positive start.
• As the hours applied for would allow the sale of alcohol from 7:00, it was noted this was early and had the potential to be a magnet for street drinkers. In response it was outlined that the applicant sought to keep his opening times and licensed hours in sync, as if the licensed hours were later, the alcohol that was stocked would have to be blocked off and could lead to conflict with customers.
• It was noted that Section 182 guidance outlined the sale of alcohol in line with a premises opening time was best practise unless good reasons were identified. The Legal Officer noted this as 10.15 of the guidance, ‘Shops, stores and supermarkets should normally be free to provide sales of alcohol for consumption off the premises at any times when the retail outlet is open for shopping unless there are good reasons, based on the licensing objectives, for restricting those hours.’
• The local ASDA store was noted to have a later start time for their alcohol licence than their opening time. In response it was noted that ASDA had designated security and was better suited to containing conflict with customers and the application had been submitted in line with the guidance.
• Members noted that conflict arising from people not being able to purchase alcohol early in the morning was not the situation or clientele they would like the shop to attract.
• Members suggested, to positively impact the community and address litter concerns, the applicant could engage with Ward Members and local litter picking groups.
• It was confirmed that the applicant worked at previous shops holding alcohol licences, but this was the first license he had applied for in the capacity of a shop owner. He also intended to purchase a close by barber shop, which showed commitment to staying in the area and developing community assets.
• The applicant and his wife held personal licenses and had been provided with the appropriate compliance literature.
• The premises differed from other local shops as it supplied Eastern European foods, specifically, Polish, Romanian and Slavic. It was noted that the alcohol proposed for stock will be comprised of some Eastern Europe favoured choices and that customers had requested the sale of alcohol to suit their convenience.
• It was estimated that food products would make up around 80% of the shops stock and up to 50% of sales may be alcohol.
• Middleton was in the top 1 percentile for deprivation in the UK, with poverty associated with increased prevalence of alcoholism and it was proposed that the licensed hours be revised to start from 09:00 to discourage alcohol consumption early in the day. In response it was noted no issues had occurred during the TENs, procedure will be followed, drunk people will not be served, an incident book will be available, and the licensing objectives will be upheld.
• Members noted alcoholics tend to prefer small shops and anyone behaving in an aggressive manner should be removed from the premises. Conflict was not likely to arise from people who were not dependant on alcohol.
• Although some difficulties may arise with a later start time to the licence, the applicant agreed he would be content with a 08:00 start time. It was noted sufficient measures were in place to support the licensing objectives and limit any confrontation that may occur.

In summing up the applicant outlined the following:

• The objectors had not expanded on their concerns, had not attended the hearing and had not supplied evidence to support their claims. The objections had the potential to be submitted by competing local businesses.
• The four licensing objectives had been covered. The shop was considered safe and drunk people were not to be served alcohol.
• The hours applied for were not unreasonable and the preference was to match the opening times.
• The applicant was commended for taking on and improving a shop that had fallen into a bad condition and proposals to purchase another shop in the parade showed commitment to the community and location. The shop was to be a family run business for the local community.
• The objection comments were vague, and the applicant had agreed to a substantial number of conditions proposed by WYP and Ward Members.

RESOLVED – To grant the application, subject to the alteration of the hours permitted for the sale of alcohol, which would be 08:00 to 23:00 Monday to Sunday.