Mill Road shop's drink licence bid brings fear of late-night noise

Residents' group voices concerns over store's application to extend alcohol licence

Fears of late-night noise, disturbances and vandalism have sparked South Petersfield residents to call for a stop to plans to extend the alcohol licence of a Mill Road store.

The Nip In store at 30 Mill Road is applying for an extension to its licence that would mean people could buy alcohol from the premises until 1am from Wednesdays through to Saturdays.

Frank Gawthrop, of the South Petersfield Residents’ Association (SPRA), said: “This will make it a magnet for those returning from the city centre wishing to purchase more drink. If passed, it will set a precedent that will have a serious impact on our residential amenity.

“All the other off-licences in Mill Road and Hills Road will apply for similar hours and we will all feel the result.

“A few years ago we suffered a lot of late night alcohol-related disturbance and vandalism. Thankfully, in recent years this has decreased, but not gone away.

“Much of this improvement is due to our former chairperson, Barbara Bell, who persuaded the police and the council to declare Mill Road a ‘Cumulative Impact Zone’ (CIZ). This states that there are already sufficient licensed premises selling alcohol and that more, or an extension of hours, will be likely to have a ‘cumulative’ impact on crime and disorder.”

He said that the SPRA has used this zone as a basis for rejecting two new licensed premises and restrict closing hours to 11pm during the week and 10.30pm on Sundays.

“We feel these are reasonable hours of operation which most responsible businesses have accepted,” he said.

In the application, owner Niks Enterprise Limited says staff will be fully trained to sell alcohol late, and public safety will be ensured by CCTV installed both inside and outside of the store, with regular security reviews.