Tesco plans to open a new branch in Richmond, but its alcohol plans have raised concerns
A new Tesco Express is set to open next to a South West London station but its plans to sell alcohol until 11pm have faced opposition.
The supermarket giant has applied for an alcohol licence at a new branch it plans to open in Richmond town centre. The new Tesco Express at The Quadrant, next to Richmond Station, will open and sell alcohol from 6am to 11pm every day, if Richmond Council approves the plans. It would replace an Amazon Fresh store that closed at the site last year.
But the application has faced objections from the Richmond Society and Friends of Richmond Green as the site is in a cumulative impact zone (CIZ), where there are already a high density of licensed venues and applications should be refused if they are likely to add to problems in the area.
Peter Willan, representing the residents’ groups, told the council’s licensing hearing today (September 4) the town centre had “major issues with anti-social behaviour” and a lack of police resources to tackle them.
He said: “We’re not against people enjoying themselves and that means consuming alcohol. It’s just when we have excesses, and that’s the problem we face.”
Mr Willan asked for the store’s hours to be reduced to 7am to 10pm every day on behalf of the groups. But solicitor Jeremy Bark, representing Tesco, said granting the licence would not breach Richmond’s cumulative impact policy as most sales would be food.
He told the hearing Tesco was a “very responsible operator” and already had roughly 20 stores in the borough.
Mr Bark said: “We think this is a well-thought-out application. We like to think we know the area well. We don’t cause existing problems. There’s no suggestion, I think, that we will do here.”
The application did not receive any objections from authorities. Proposed conditions on the licence include keeping an incident log at the store, maintaining CCTV and training staff.
Richmond’s licensing committee will publish its decision on the plans in the coming days.
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