Alcohol licence approved for new Sunderland shop, despite concerns

It comes after a licensing application was submitted to Sunderland City Council earlier this year for 20 Bexhill Road, which was previously home to a betting shop, and is set to be converted into a local convenience store.

Initially applicant Kanimolzi Sivananthan was looking to secure a premises licence for a new Premier store to sell alcohol Monday to Sunday from 7am until 11pm.

However following a meeting with council licensing and public health teams, along with Northumbria Police, she agreed to reduce the proposed hours to between 10am and 10pm.

Objections were submitted to the proposals from Town End Farm Workingman’s Club, which is joined on to the site, the headteacher at nearby Bexhill Academy and ward councillors, raising various concerns.

These were heard by the city council’s licensing sub-committee on Monday, October 23, and included worries around parking problems, antisocial behaviour, public nuisance and the impact on the workman’s club survival.

The committee ultimately decided to grant the licensing application, which will give the shop permission to sell alcohol between 10am and 10pm.

Following the concerns raised, the approval will be subject to a designated premises supervisor being on site “effectively at all times” and a restriction being in place on the number of children allowed in at any one time.

Oisin Daly, agent from Absolute Licence Solutions, speaking on behalf of the applicant, said the site will be illuminated at night during opening hours to discourage congregation and antisocial behaviour, with thorough CCTV in place both inside and out.

He said: “We’ve had meetings with all the responsible authorities, including the police and public health, none of whom have made any representation, some weight should be given to that.

“This would primarily be a convenience store, the sale of alcohol will be part of it, but it will only be a small part.”

He added the site will have a “beer cave” which will be locked outside of licensed hours, while there will be no single sale of cans and a training package will be in place for all staff, covering measures such as Challenge 25.

Mr Daly also noted the applicant runs two other stores, one in Sunderland and one in Chester-le-Street, which have a “good reputation” and have faced “no issues”.

Nevertheless representatives from Town End Farm Workingman’s Club raised their concerns at the meeting around the impact the potential store selling alcohol would have on their business.

A spokesperson for the club said: “What the club does for the community, it’s massive and it’s the only one round there that’s surviving, and it’s only surviving because we do as much as we can for the community and the local schools.

“We do not need something like that right on our doorstep. We’re just trying to protect the club, its interests, jobs and what the club does as a community.

“The sale of alcohol next to our premises will have a massive impact on our club and on these grounds we’re worried about the staff and the survival of a community-led club.”

Ruth Walton, headteacher at Bexhill Academy, also praised the club and raised concerns over the impact the shop could have on the site, along with wider worries over littering and ensuring the protection of children.

She said: “It’s going to encourage more litter and more youths hanging around in the area.

“It’s really really difficult to manage at this moment in time without the addition of a shop that sells lots of fancy sweets and drinks and alcohol.

“I just feel like you’re giving candy to a baby, our job should be to educate and teach the children, not to have to go round picking up broken glass and alcohol.”

Castle ward councillors Stephen Foster and Allison Chisnall also spoke at the meeting to raise concerns over the proposed licence and the impact it could have on antisocial behaviour, parking and public safety.

Cllr Foster added: “It’s the location of the school to the proposed shop, we’ve got to be mindful, it’s about the children we’re trying to protect.

“It also could have an effect on the club which would result in loss of trade, jobs losses and community use.”

The meeting heard a planning application will be submitted in the near future in an attempt to secure permission to convert the site into a shop.

Council officers added many of the worries voiced by objectors are issues which legislation states would be considered during that process, rather than by the licensing sub-committee.

Representatives from the working men’s club also raised concerns as to how the site is subject to a covenant, which restricts the use of the building to a Licensed Social Club and Institute, a Betting Office or a Taxi Office.

However council legal officers said the covenant has “nothing to do with licensing” and is a matter for between the club and the applicant.