Washington: Spout Lane shop alcohol licence decision as locals fear booze-fuelled trouble in crime hotspot

Sunderland City Council’s Licensing Sub-Committee, at a meeting this week, discussed an application for an address listed as “Spout Lane convenience store, unit 5 Spout Lane” in the Concord area.

The unit was most recently a carpet and flooring shop but new plans aim to convert the space into a “suitably sized supermarket with a reputation/standard”, a council licensing report states.

Comments from a previous consultation meeting, summarised in the council licensing report, said the applicant had “15 years experience managing other retail outlets” and confirmed “his intention is not to operate as a standard off-licence store where alcohol is the main focus”.

An application was submitted to the council in May, 2025, seeking permission for the “sale of alcohol off the premises” between 7am and 11pm, Monday to Sunday.

A council licensing report noted the premises, while in a mixed-use area of homes and commercial buildings, is “surrounded by a high concentration of residential properties.”

During a consultation exercise on the licence application, a number of objections from local residents and business owners were received with issues including public nuisance, noise nuisance, littering, and alcohol-related disorder and antisocial behaviour.

The council’s licensing department also received four petitions containing “a total of 217 names objecting to the application.”

Arguments for and against the premises licence bid were put forward at a meeting of the council’s Licensing Sub-Committee on Wednesday (July 2) at City Hall.

The applicant and his representative both spoke in support of the plans at the meeting and said additional conditions had been added to the proposed licence following objections from the public.

The applicant’s representative said applicant John Marshal Muthukumar was an “experienced licensee” with a “very good track record” and that “very big investment” was planned to convert the large Spout Lane unit into a supermarket use.

The applicant’s agent argued they did not want to “jeopardise” this investment by “undermining any of the licensing objectives” and had “listened to concerns” from objectors.

It was noted that staff training would be in place around alcohol sales along with a refusals log and CCTV, limitations on the type of alcohol sold and customer notices, and the meeting heard there were no objections from Northumbria Police.

The applicant’s agent stressed there was no evidence provided to justify a refusal of the alcohol licence but that if issues arose in future, the licence could be reviewed by the council.

Applicants also indicated they would have scaled back operating hours of 7am-9pm initially but could extend hours further within the hours applied for (up to 11pm) if needed in future.

A large group of residents attended the licensing meeting and a number argued for the alcohol licence to be rejected, with concerns centred around existing issues with alcohol-related antisocial behaviour in the area.

Objector John Ali said there was a “big problem” with crime in the area and that another off-licence business selling alcohol would “cause more problems”.

It was noted that the site was near a lane where people congregate and that some residents felt “anxious and nervous” passing, with the objector also raising concerns about underage drinking and smoking.

Mr Ali added there were more than 15 premises selling alcohol within the vicinity of one mile of the proposed new shop, and that another premises selling alcohol would put more pressure on police and health services.

Meanwhile, Shakilah Ahmed said the area “can’t cope” with the amount of alcohol sales and noted other local businesses had similar licence conditions as those proposed for Spout Lane, but that there was “still trouble in Concord” regardless.

The objector said there were also wider issues of underage drinking in the area which the council’s licensing panel “seriously needed to look at”.

“That [proposed] shop is placed right bang in the middle of the community and the street that leads there, there’s houses all the way up leading to Washington Village, which is a beautiful award-winning village’,” she said.

“We do not want to show drugs and alcohol and all the rest of it affecting all those beautiful things that we have in that community.

“It’s just upsetting to see another shop opening up and more disorder and damage […] so please, I want you to look at this carefully and to decide on your own merits what’s best for our area as a community and for our residents.”

Members of the Licensing Sub-Committee and council officers quizzed the applicant on technical aspects of the licensing application before adjourning the meeting for private deliberations.

The meeting was told by council licensing officers that there was not a ‘cumulative impact policy’ in place for any area in Sunderland and that the application would be assessed on its own merits with consideration of licensing objectives.

This included the prevention of crime and disorder, public safety, the prevention of public nuisance and the protection of children from harm, and council officers noted there were no concerns raised by the council’s public health department.

When the meeting reconvened in public, it was announced that councillors on the Licensing Sub-Committee had approved the premises licence application.

The approved alcohol licence is subject to more than 20 conditions covering matters such as CCTV, staff training, a ‘challenge 25’ policy, refusals register protocols, not selling single cans of lager, beer, cider or perry, customer notices, supporting crime prevention initiatives and refusing sales to “individuals identified as street drinkers”.

It was also noted that the premises would “not stock, display or sell any lager, beer, cider or perry products in plastic bottles of 2.49 litres or above, with an ABV content of 5.5 per cent and above”, although this restriction “shall not apply to premium products such as craft or speciality beer, lager or cider.”

Council licensing officers said as the shop is not currently trading, the committee “can’t speculate on what might happen”.

But objectors in attendance were told that any future issues with antisocial behaviour, littering and underage alcohol sales could be reported directly to Sunderland City Council’s relevant departments.

It was also noted that if issues were directly linked to the Spout Lane premises in future when it opens for business, an application could be made for the premises licence to be reviewed.