Shop opening hours extension rejected after anti-social behaviour claims

Riga off-licence, on West Bromwich Street, had been hoping to continue trading until 3am, with its current licence only allowing the shop to remain open until midnight.

However concerns were raised by several local residents in the run up to yesterday’s hearing, with an alleged rise in anti-social behaviour among complaints raised.

The shop denied it was linked to any anti-social behaviour.

One of those raising objections to the extension was Councillor Sabina Ditta, who also lives in the area around the shop.

She said she feared that, were the hours extended, the rise in anti-social behaviour would make life difficult for local residents.

“My main concern was anti-social behaviour – many residents are objecting to the late opening hours on this basis,” she said.

“We are already suffering from an increase in anti-social behaviour in the area. We have people buying their drinks and then loitering in the area and the streets, outside our properties, on the corner of our properties and our streets. That leads to drunken behaviour, fights, arguments, damage to property when fights happen, cars, etc.

“And most of all it is affecting the sleep of the residents. We are all working, many of us have children, and many times children have woken up in the late hours of the night when there’s screaming and shouting from the fights and anti-social behaviour.

“So that is a representation of why I don’t think we need increased hours to what’s already there.”

But speaking on behalf of shop owner Mohamed Jamal Ali, solicitor Heath Thomas argued that there was little evidence that Riga was the cause of the concerns raised by residents, pointing to the fact that the police had not raised any objections to the application to extend the hours.

However, the committee found that the absence of an objection by the authorities was not enough to outweigh the concerns of so many local residents, and decided to reject the proposals.