Shop owner fears aggressive customers may ‘kick off’ if refused alcohol

A Leeds shop owner says he fears aggressive customers may “kick off” if the city council prevents him from selling alcohol earlier in the day.

Shailendra Bhogal, who runs R S Mini Market in the city’s Harehills area, said he “didn’t want to take any risks” and was “losing morning trade” without an extended booze licence.

The convenience store is currently allowed to sell alcohol from 11am to 11pm, but Mr Bhogal now wants permission to start at 8am instead.

But West Yorkshire Police, local councillors and Leeds’ environmental health unit all opposed the store’s application for a licence at a hearing on Tuesday, citing concerns around Harehills’ street drinking problems.

Mr Bhogal did not attend the hearing at Leeds’ Civic Hall, but offered a written response to objectors’ who’d put forward their concerns in advance.

In it, he suggested he was unable to open the shop any earlier than 11am, because it was unviable without an alcohol licence.

He wrote: “I am losing all morning trade. All my customers (are) asking me to open early morning (so) they can buy all daily morning stuff like bread, milk, eggs, tea, coffee and sandwiches for school and work.

“But I can’t open because I don’t have a alcohol licence. I don’t want to take any risks because if someone asks me to sell alcohol and I refuse, he might start kicking off and create the problem.

“In this situation I would have to involve police and I don’t want my shop to have bad reputation.”

Mr Bhogal said he’d been running the store for three months and that his customers “are really good and happy”.

R S Mini Market, on Markham Avenue, falls in Harehills’ cumulative impact area, where the council is seeking to limit the availability of cheap booze.

The policy was set up to aid Harehills’ battle against street drinkers, who’ve been accused of plaguing the area with anti-social behaviour and crime for years.

As a result, any applications for a new or extended alcohol licence have to demonstrate they won’t contribute to these problems.

Speaking at the hearing, PC Andy Clifford from West Yorkshire Police, said Mr Bhogal had displayed a “worrying lack of understanding” about the area and its issues.

He said: “Selling alcohol out of a fear of crime being committed is not supported in licensing.

“That suggestion itself makes me think they’re not a responsible operator.”

Local councillor Salma Arif said extending the licence by three hours a day was “going to cause more issues” for local people.

“This is very much a residential area,” she told the hearing. “The schools are close by.”

She added: “I don’t feel we need to vary the hours. It’s not going to be child-friendly. I don’t believe to have the off licence opening during the school run is right and it’s going to make that particular area worse.”