Agenda and minutes

To consider an application to vary a Premises Licence in respect of Nene Supermarket, 12 Lynn Road, Wisbech.

Report attached. 

Members considered an application for a variation to a premises licence in respect of Nene Supermarket, 12 Lynn Road, Wisbech. 

The Chairman introduced the Panel and others present were:

·       Ayad Ali Saied, Applicant

·       Hemen Saied, Nene Supermarket

·       Duncan Craig, Legal Representative for Applicant

·       Joseph Keegan, Public Health for Cambridgeshire County Council

The Licensing Officer, Michelle Bishop, outlined her report.

The Chairman invited the applicant’s representative, Mr Duncan Craig, to state his case for the applicant. 

Mr Craig apologised for the short notice but said he had only just had the opportunity to speak to his client immediately before the hearing. Clearly these premises are situated in the Cumulative Impact Area (CIA) and he appreciates this is a challenging area from the perspective of street drinking. With that in mind his client has accordingly instructed him to revise the scope of the application significantly to allay concerns, namely to rescind the request for sale by retail of alcohol between 8am to midnight and keep to the original hours of 8am to 9pm. Also, in recognition of the challenges all premises face in that area, to rescind the request to increase the strength of beer sold from 6.0% to 6.5%. There is a request for the premises to be able to sell cans of alcohol, which is not presently permitted, but this will be amended further so that they can only be purchased as a minimum of four cans and not as single cans. 

Mr Craig pointed out that there had been no representations from the police or Trading Standards. These revisions have been made because Mr Saied is keen to show he runs his business responsibly and is aware of the concerns of being situated within the CIA. He also takes the issue of staff training seriously, which is one of the reasons why Mr Saied wants the condition around personal licence holders removed because the difficulty he has with that condition is he has a transient workforce, whereas he is constantly there. If he needs to leave the premises for an hour or two, he is currently limited in doing that. Therefore to mitigate the absence of that condition he undertakes regular and rigorous staff training to meet the licensing objectives.

Mr Craig added that in respect of the increase in shelf space, this is still a very low amount in terms of the percentage space taken up by alcohol within the store and cannot see how this would undermine the licensing objectives. He also stated that, whilst not minimising the importance of public health’s role, the objections within their representation tends to be generic and not linked to this store. They do not state that these premises are poorly or irresponsibly run.  He acknowledged that street drinking is prevalent in the area but these are people that buy single cans; anti-social behaviour related to street drinking is rightly a concern for the community but reiterated that the police, being the main source of advice for crime and disorder  ...  view the full minutes text for item LH3/19