New £100,000 convenience store granted late night permission to sell alcohol despite neighbour concerns

Deal Zuper in Weston Road  was granted permission for alcohol sales seven days a week between 7am and 11pm by Stafford Borough Council’s licensing sub-committee on November 15. But the owners of the neighbouring property objected to the proposed licence for the former hardware store which is being revamped at a cost of almost £100,000.

A petition containing 20 signatures had also been sent to the council.

An objector told the meeting: “We’ve got tenants in there and they are already distressed by the amount of noise, disruption and complete lack of communication. The only way we found out about anything was an A4 notice stuck in the side of the window.

“My main concern is the opening hours, seven till 11, considering the previous business opened eight till five."

The applicants apologised for the lack of communication with nearby residents at Friday’s hearing. The premises is not yet operating and work is still taking place to refurbish it, the panel heard. 

The representative of the applicant told councillors: “We have seen the representations made by the residents and the petition. This is a local business and we fully rely on the local community for its survival. We are not expecting any customers from outside the immediate area because they have to drive past other shops which offer more options. Therefore we have to work with the community and we have no intention to upset local residents – this is a local business for local people.

“The previous store was closed down for some time and an eyesore for the area. My client took over the business recently and invested a lot to renovate everything. He committed almost £100,000 to renovate everything from floor to ceiling, including electrics, so he is not going to jeopardise everything by undermining licensing. This is his livelihood and his investment and we fully rely on the local community for everything.

“This premises has planning permission to operate opening hours a lot longer than we are asking to sell alcohol at the moment – we could open the premises 24 hours. The alcohol licence is the only reason we are here, but we don’t want to open after 11pm or before 7am on any day.

“Regarding the noise concerns, please don’t treat us like a nightclub. It is a convenience store giving the chance to buy groceries and alcohol is going to be a part of it – it’s only going to be a small portion of our lines.”

The panel heard the applicant had agreed a number of conditions with the council’s environmental health department. These included no deliveries to the premises or placing any waste in outside areas between 10pm and 7am. Staffordshire Police raised no objection to the application. 

A series of measures have been proposed by the applicant to prevent crime, disorder and public nuisance, including providing litter bins, installing CCTV and operating the “Challenge 25” policy to prevent underage alcohol sales by asking anyone who appeared to be aged under 25 to show valid ID.