The Met Police had raised concerns about the plans
A South London convenience shop has lost a battle to sell alcohol until 2am, after the Met Police raised concerns this would add to anti-social behaviour and violence in the area. KK Convenience Store, in Tooting, applied to extend the hours it could sell alcohol from up to 11pm to 2am every day.
But the Met Police and Wandsworth Council’s environmental services and licensing officers opposed the application as the shop, on Tooting High Street. The shop in the Tooting Broadway Cumulative Impact Zone (CIZ), where applications should be refused if they are deemed likely to add to problems in the area.
Wandsworth’s licensing committee has now ruled the shop owners did not show why an exception should be made to this rule, after agreeing the area was a problem for crime and there were already plenty of venues selling alcohol.
PC Belinda Loizou, Met Police licensing officer, told the council’s licensing hearing on August 19 that extending the shop’s alcohol hours to 2am would likely add to anti-social behaviour and crime in the area.
PC Loizou said: “Tooting Broadway continues to experience significant levels of violence and anti-social behaviour and the police data shows rising crimes, and the council’s policy also identifies that late-night alcohol availability and off-licences do contribute to these problems.”
Russ Stevens, Wandsworth’s principal licensing officer, added: “It’s an area already deemed to be saturated with alcohol sellers and any premises, no matter how well run… if there’s more alcohol being supplied in a cumulative impact area, then it will have a negative impact.
“It will increase the amount of alcohol that is available in that area and there will be an increase in anti-social behaviour and crime and problems, issues, that are already reported in this area associated with alcohol.”
Business owners Kavikumar Paramasivam and Karthick Siva Subramanian told the hearing extending the hours would help the business, which would follow all conditions on the licence to address any concerns.
Proposed conditions included restricting the sale of high-strength alcohol and a ban on selling single cans.
Karthick said the shop always had a member of staff acting as security and it would not sell alcohol to anybody who was too drunk. He suggested the committee could extend the alcohol hours until midnight rather than 2am, if it preferred.
But, in a new report, the licensing committee ruled no extension of the alcohol hours would be acceptable.
The report said the shop owners had seemed vague on information they provided at the hearing, and there was concern they were not fully aware of what they had applied for.
The committee decided not to grant the licence at the end of the meeting.
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