A Broomhill and Sharrow Vale Councillor has spoken out against an application for a late night store selling alcohol on Ecclesall Road.
Green Party Councillor Brian Holmshaw was speaking at this Tuesday’s Licensing Sub Committee regarding the application by 418 Stores to extend their opening hours on Sunday to Thursday from 9.00am to 3.00am and from 9.00am to 5.00am on Fridays and Saturdays. He said,
“A dozen residents, some in family homes close to 418 Stores, have been in touch
with me to say that they do not want their area to become more of a late night destination. These include members of Local Friends groups worried about the impact of people congregating next to residents’ homes. They do not want the noise and disruption. Supplying late night refreshment into the early hours will only encourage this.
“We have had an informal drinking and drink sales curfew of 11/11.30 pm in the area
for many years now. I would like to ask that this application is refused and the applicant removes these unsafe hours for sales, back to ones that respect local people in this residential area and will not cause anti-social behaviour to increase.
“Overnight late refreshment and alcohol sales jeopardises the concerted work being
done by local agencies in the city to mitigate the effects of aggressive and intimidating behaviour by people under the influence of alcohol. We don’t want to be the new city centre with its attendant issues of anti-social behaviour and street drinking,
“It is well known that such availability of alcohol for long hours every day is going to do damage to the overall health of individuals, to local communities; and that crime and bad behaviour increases.
“The Public Health department at the City Council have also spoken out against this application, highlighting the high incident of violence and anti-social behaviour that occurs in the vicinity of the shop.
“Lots of residents have contacted me concerned that Ecclesall Road will become a destination for late night/early hours drinking, a second West Street. I would also like to point out that the city centre Public Service Protection Order came out on the 1st April and that street drinkers have had to find other locations OUT of the city centre, in other areas of Sheffield, spreading the resources of drink and drug services and the police even more thinly.
“The Council needs to strike a balance between business needs and the needs of local residents in surrounding streets, regarding reasonable living conditions. It is only by policing properly the licensing conditions on Ecclesall Road, those important four licensing objectives, that we will stop it deteriorating for residents and damaging the business potential of the area.”
The Licensing Sub Committee voted in favour of the extension of opening hours to 3am all week. Cllr Holmshaw said:
“It beggars belief that this application has been accepted and it flies in the face of the evidence presented by Public Health and others. Decisions like this break people’s faith in local democracy and they quite rightly ask themselves if the interests of the community are really being taken into account.”
