New Derby store says police conditions to sell alcohol ‘unfair’

The owners of a new supermarket on a Derby road calling for a licence to sell alcohol say sale conditions requested by police are “unfair”.

The new Fresh Oshee supermarket will be on the ground floor of the new Istanbul Restaurant on Normanton Road. Its opening hours will be from 6am to midnight Monday to Sunday.

Owners or managers running premises used to supply alcohol must have a premises licence given by a local authority.

In this case an application for a premises licence at the supermarket has been submitted to Derby City Council’s Licensing team.

However, police have called on Derby City Council to reject the application for a premises licence due to fears the supermarket’s intended opening hours could lead to an increase in street drinking and anti-social behaviour – which they say is already a huge problem on the road and surrounding areas of Normanton.

A Derby City Council General Licensing Sub Committee meeting was held on Monday (September 20) to discuss the matter in detail and give both sides the opportunity to have their say.

During the meeting it was heard how police had contacted the applicant calling on the new supermarket to take on a number of measures which would help ease concerns over a potential increase in street drinking and anti-social behaviour.

The measures included:

• No super-strength beer, larger or cider of 6.5% ABV or above should be sold at the premises.
• Any lager or cider will not be sold in single cans or bottles.
• Any alcohol sold at the premises must have a price sticker or marker identifying the premises it was sold from.

But PC Gemma Williamson, Derbyshire police licensing and enforcement officer, said that the applicant told her that the conditions set were “unfair”.

The applicant then proposed that, as an alternative to the conditions, any alcohol of 6.5% ABV or above should be kept behind the counter – but this did not “go far enough” to meet the police’s requirements.

It is understood the applicant is also the licence holder and supervisor of the Europa Deliketesy shop just a few properties away from where the new premises will be.

However, the Europa Deliketesy shop will close for good once the new premises are open, the meeting heard.

A representative for the supermarket, Ms Akhtar, said the conditions given to the applicant were unfair and felt businesses are not only to blame for street drinking problems.

Speaking at the meeting, she said: “We are happy to adjust the (opening) hours and keep it the same as Europa Deliketesy from 8am to 11.59am.

“Alcohol will not be sold on promotion or offer. There is a limited range of alcohol which is above 6.5% ABV which is sold as single cans at £1.80. We do not sell any English lagers or ciders, it is just European, Polish and Romanian we sell.

“The supermarket is going to be in the Istanbul Restaurant which will be above the supermarket.

“The concept we are going for is to attract better to the area and to improve it. The restaurant is well known and we are trying to attract families and a better clientele to the area.

“I get the feeling it is the businesses which are being penalised but we should all be working together to improve the area. Street drinking has escalated, it is not safe anymore but it is not just the onus on businesses but the council, police and everyone working together to find solutions to tackle these issues.

“Businesses alone can’t tackle this.

“If there was a Sainsbury’s asking to be located on the same site would they be asking them to price all their products? Do they have price labels on all their products? No they don’t.

“I think it is an unfair condition requesting smaller businesses to do so. If police saw a can on the floor which said Fresh Oshee on it but there were other cans – there maybe an automatic assumption that all the alcohol would have been purchased at Fresh Oshee Supermarket. I think it would cause an imbalance and not deal with the issue.”

Ms Akhtar added there are also plans to install a new gate on a nearby walkway to deter people loitering about.

Police issued evidence as part of the licensing hearing stating it has received around ten reports of anti-social behaviour around the site within the last few months.

A letter to the council from Derbyshire police’s licensing department says: “The existing situation is that high strength alcohol is so readily available in the area already due to the high saturation of off licences.

“When officers or public protection officers take positive action with street drinking it is impossible to trace the premises which has sold the alcohol in the first place.

“The early and late opening hours of the premises would allow the opportunity for the street drinking fraternity in the area to have ready access to such alcohol for a large proportion of the day and this would lead to a likely increase in anti-social behaviour or street drinking despite him (the applicant) agreeing this was an issue in the area.”

Derby City Council councillors from the General Sub Licencing Committee said it would write to the applicant within a number of days with its final decision before closing the meeting.