Gillingham c-store’s licence under review following street drinking concern

Concern about street drinking has resulted in a convenience store’s alcohol licence being put under review by police.

According to Kent Police, people are often seen drinking outside Baba Food and Wine in Gillingham High Street.

It came after the store’s owners applied for a separate licence to sell alcohol in a new premises called Baba Food Centre which is two doors down.

The applicant, Alaittin Temur, had originally asked the council whether he could sell alcohol between 5.30am and 10pm, before changing the application to between 9am and 9pm.

During a meeting of the authority’s licensing hearing panel on Wednesday, March 2, PC Daniel Hunt questioned why Mr Temur needed another licence to sell alcohol when Baba Food and Wine already had one.

He replied the new store would be selling only specialist alcohol from Turkey and Sweden, including raki, beers and wines.

The agent for the applicant, David Tutt, told the panel the new store would implement measures so it would not contribute to the ongoing street drinking issue.

These included training staff, keeping a record of refusals, banning people from buying alcohol if the rest of their shop was below £10, not selling booze above 5.5% ABV, and sticking labels to the drinks.

The latter measure was proposed in an effort to trace drinks back to the store if they are discarded in the area.

Barbara Murray, a public health project officer at the council, said the area around St Mark’s Church and the junction with Canterbury Street suffered from problems with litter.

She said: “There is constant alcohol litter in the location and I have witnessed on many occasions people sitting on the benches and on the walls drinking alcohol just up from the shop and by the bus stop.

“I have also seen evidence of public drug use in the area and there’s evidence of public defecation and urination in the gardens surrounding St Mark’s Church, which is just up from this premises.”

She added how she didn’t think adding labels to drinks would do anything to help the problem.

PC Andre Smuts said: “Gillingham High Street suffers from a high volume of alcohol-related crime, disorder, public nuisance, and within this area, there are several recent allegations of assaults and robberies.

“This specific area of Gillingham High Street is well known amongst officers on Kent Police’s town centre policing team as facilitating a proportionally high percentage of the street drinkers within the area.

“Largely speaking, the faces are always the same. There are many of them, they’re known to the High Street team – PCs and PCSOs.

“But it’s not solely the same old faces, there are new ones every now and again, but there a huge amount, and ongoing, it’s the same faces.”

He added how officers were seizing alcohol from street drinkers on the benches in front of Baba Food and Wine as often as twice a week.

He also told councillors paperwork for a licence review had been submitted the day before the meeting.

Councillors denied a new licence for the Baba Food Centre.