By John Baron
Discount retailer Home Bargains has been given the green light for a licence to sell alcohol at its new store in Armley – despite concerns over nearby street drinking.
Home Bargains is set to open in the former Wilko’s store at Centre West Retail Park on Saturday, 12 October and Leeds City Council has given its approval to sell drinks at the site off Stanningley Road.
The company had applied to sell alcohol daily from 6am until midnight, but councillors sitting on the licensing sub committee reduced that by two hours to between 7am and 11pm.
In addition, no beers or ciders above 6.5% abv will be sold, a minimum of one Security Industry Authority accredited individual shall be deployed and there shall be no sale of spirits, other than one-off seasonal gift packs.
The council’s licensing sub-committee received one objection from a nearby householder.
They said: “Armley has a significant problem with alcoholism and there are already too many shops on and in the vicinity of Town Street which sell alcohol.”
The Armley Town Street area has been affected by problems with street drinking and anti-social behaviour. The council has imposed a cumulative impact policy in the area, which means applicants for a new or variation of a licence to sell alcohol must demonstrate that they will not add to problems such as public nuisance and crime and disorder. Home Bargains’ application falls within that area.
There had been no objection from West Yorkshire Police, but local councillors had raised concerns over the impact on existing street drinking issues.
Conditions also include training for staff, operating a Challenge 25 policy to deter under-age drinking and running and a CCTV system.
Home Bargains said £1 million had been invested in the store and it would potentially create up to 50 jobs. It said it had never had any licence review proceedings against it, which was testament to how well run the organisation is.
The agenda, documents and minutes can be read in full here.
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Great news! There aren’t nearly enough outlets for alcohol in the vicinity!
On a serious note, though, I doubt that this particular application would ever have been blocked.
Going to need some very big Security Guards …