A south London shop has lost a battle to sell alcohol until 1am after the Met Police raised concerns it would lead to an increase in anti-social behaviour. The Victoria News, at Chessington North station, wanted to extend its opening hours and sell booze until 12 Monday to Thursday, 1am on Fridays and Saturdays and 11pm on Sundays.

Kingston Council’s licensing committee rejected the plans after deciding the store extending its opening hours would cause problems for residents. The decision came after police, public health and environmental health raised concerns that the extended opening hours would allow intoxicated customers to buy more alcohol and disturb neighbours, at a hearing on 10 December. Authorities said there were no stores in the area that were open earlier. 23.00.

Lawyer Armin Solimani, representing the police, said incidents of anti-social behavior involving the shop had been reported, while it had also breached the terms of its license – including storing CCTV footage for 21 instead of 31 days and failing to provide training records . He said the operator had been “reckless” and police did not trust him to properly manage the risks extending the store’s opening hours.



Chessington North station, Chessington, Kingston upon Thames

Mr Solimani said: “We think the risk of extending the hours… is that first of all people get drunk and drunk as the night goes on, so you’re more likely to see crime, you’re more likely to see anti-social behavior at those times of the night.

“You have less passive surveillance because you have less people around the area, it gets quiet and you also have this problem that because this is the last place open because everywhere stopped selling alcohol at 11pm, it means people will gather here when they want to buy alcohol – in this big empty car park surrounded by residential premises.”

Louise Gallagher, the council’s primary care manager of public health for drug misuse, added: “Public Health believes that as the Victoria News would be the only licensed premises in the locality selling alcohol after 11pm, this would encourage people who have already consumed alcohol on a night out and whose judgment will deteriorate to buy more alcohol on the way home, causing disorder and public nuisance.”

Consultant Noel Samaroo, representing the company, said the operator was not aware of any anti-social behavior or other problems at the store. He said many residents had asked for the store to open later for their convenience, while the operator had a good relationship with the community and said there was no evidence to support the concerns raised.

Mr Samaroo said: “My biggest concern with this is that every representation seems to be hoping for what could happen… as long as he’s running the premises properly, he’s doing everything he’s supposed to do, there shouldn’t be any reason why there would be some difficulty in the premises.”

Mr Samaroo told the hearing that allowing the store to extend its opening hours would “make the difference between it being a successful business and a business that just pays the bills”. He added that the operator had addressed the breaches of the store’s license identified by police and that staff would be retrained in the new year.

But a new report into the committee’s decision to scrap the plans says residents had experienced an increase in disruption and noise disturbance, which would be exacerbated by the extended hours. It said the evidence showed there was already a problem with anti-social behavior in the area, even before 11pm.

The report added: “The area included a car park which was open and uncontrolled throughout the night, where people congregated and congregated creating noise and disturbance as well as possible drug dealing etc. An extension of the opening hours for the sale of alcohol would serve to prolong this behaviour.”

The shop is still allowed to sell alcohol until 11pm on Mondays to Saturdays and until 10.30pm on Sundays.



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