Worthing shop's 24/7 opening bid is refused

Londis, 115 Montague Street, applied to the council for permission to open and sell alcohol 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

The store’s existing licence allows it to open between 7am and midnight, Sunday to Wednesday, and between 7am and 1am Thursday to Saturday.

Worthing Borough Council’s licensing and control sub-committee discussed the application on Wednesday (September 7), ultimately deciding to turn it down.

This followed a number of objections.

The chairman of Worthing Pubwatch Vinojan Vijayakumar said: “I have serious concerns.

“[The shop] is a bit of a distance from most of the venues in the town centre.

“My concern is that vulnerable people will be travelling to the store and then something could happen.

“There’s also the street community and we have to also not encourage street drinking in the town.”

Nadeem Shad, from the council’s environmental protection team, said: “We believe that having a 24-hour operation will attract more people, obviously causing more noise in the vicinity and thereby causing a public nuisance.”

Sussex Police ‘did not object to the principle’ of 24/7 opening hours, but wanted to see a number of measures put in place, such as CCTV and notices asking customers to leave quietly and not drink on the streets – conditions the business agreed to.

Committee chair Sally Smith (Lab, Central) asked if any other nearby stores are open 24 hours a day and licensing officers confirmed that four Worthing shops are allowed to sell alcohol 24-hours a day – but none of them are nearby.

The business said it would employ extra staff to monitor the store at night.

Speaking on behalf of the business, Ms Sharuvinothan said: “As far as I’m aware, there’s no objections from the neighbours.

“Also in the three or four years of having the shop open, we’ve not had any sort of complaints – you will know the shop’s been open until 12, 1am.”

But a statement says this did not do enough to address the committee’s concerns.

“Although the premise is situated in a mixed commercial [and] residential area it is densely populated and there are no other commercial premises operating in the area open 24 hours a day,” reads the statement.