A Merthyr Tydfil takeaway has had its application to stay open until 4am at weekends rejected. Peri Peri Chicken had applied for a new premises licence for unit one at 16 Dynevor Street.
PPC Merthyr Ltd wanted to provide late-night refreshment indoors and outdoors from 11pm to 4am from Friday to Sunday. The opening hours applied for were from 4pm to 11pm from Monday to Thursday and from 4pm to 4am from Friday to Sunday.
The intention was also for it to be able to open and serve late-night refreshment on Good Friday, bank holiday Mondays, Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, Boxing Day, New Year’s Eve, and New Year’s Day. The licence application said that after 11pm all windows and the main entrance will be closed and that they will serve customers through a hatch window.
It also said that CCTV will cover the whole shop and be in operation for 24 hours and record for 31 days. But the following a meeting of the council’s statutory licensing committee on Friday, December 2, the panel decided to refuse the application.
Preventing crime and disorder
On the issue of the prevention of crime and disorder the committee decision notice said that after taking the evidence into account the committee were of the firm belief that granting the licence until 4am or any time after 11pm would breach this licensing principle. "It considered the mitigating features put forward by the applicant and whether or not reduced hours to say 12 or 1am would allow the premises to operate without conflict and determined that it would not.
“The nature of the area, the premises in the immediate vicinity, and the premises location would inevitably lead to an increase in crime and disorder.” The committee heard from objectors South Wales Police, the council’s licensing department, the council’s public health department, the council’s highways department, Barrie Davies from a planning consultant representing Murat Ongun who operates a hot food/burger van in the area, as well as from the applicant himself.
The police said the area was already a place with high instances of crime and disorder and that this was related to the licensed alcohol premises present in Dynevor Street and it was felt that any additional licence premises of the kind subject to this application would exacerbate the current issues there. The police said that all the licensed premises had dispersal policies to promote people leaving the area promptly after leaving the licensed premises and that allowing a takeaway to open and serve customers directly outside these premises would result in people remaining in the area longer.
The police said many of these people would be drunk and drunkenness often leads to violence or anti-social behaviour. The current food premises in the car park of Clwb Crown also causes similar issues concerning dispersal and adding another food premises would inevitably lead to further problems, the police said. But the committee heard that the current food premises of Mr Ongun does not operate until 4am which was the time requested in this application.
The applicant stated that he would accept an earlier closing time and this was put to the police who said that any licence for this premises, whether it be for 12am, 1am, or any other time after 11pm, would conflict with the licensing principles. Mr Morris from highways echoed this for road traffic issues. The committee heard that when Clwb Crown opens there is the possibility of up to 2,500 persons leaving the licensed premises between 2.30am and 3am and people waiting for food or eating food in the area would lead to incidents of crime.
The police also said that a late-night takeaway in this area would further encourage anti-social drivers to drive and park up in the street and this often leads to street disturbances adding that there were police records of drunk persons in the immediate area of Dynevor Street jumping onto vehicles. The committee heard that this was not attributable to the applicant’s premises but people congregating outside would inevitably lead to more similar type issues. The police confirmed there were no issues with the way Mr Ongun operated his premises but they said that the infrastructure around Dynevor Street was not currently set up properly for the late-night economy.
The decision notice said that the applicant stated that he intended to employ door staff to encourage people to leave the area but gave no details of how many would be employed and how they would be able to control the area while selling food from the premises. The applicant said that at some point in time he hoped to buy the land to the side of the premises and when this happened people could park up, queue, and eat food there but the decision notice said that this could not be considered at the moment.
The applicant also said he would encourage customers to queue to the side of the premises but this was considered by the committee to be “impractical and fanciful”. Mr Davies, speaking for Mr Ongun, stated that the Dynevor Street area had been the focus of crime and anti-social behaviour for many years. He said that an application like this would inevitably cause people to linger longer in the area which was likely to lead to more crime and disorder.
Councillor Clive Jones said that the Dynevor Street area was an absolute nightmare and he was happy that the police had set out the crime and disorder position. He believed allowing the application would exacerbate the situation.
Public safety
On the issue of public safety the decision notice said it was clear to the committee that licensing the premises in its current form would breach the public safety licensing principle. The police said that allowing a takeaway in the location applied for was bound to cause conflict with the public safety licensing principle.
The service hatch would be located directly opposite the Kooler and on the other side of the road from the Celtic Bar and Clwb Crown which would cause customers to cross what was described as a relatively busy road for that time of night. Carwyn Morris from the council’s highways department said that there were already major problems with people parking up outside the premises to collect food and that has the effect of making the road even more dangerous especially if the area is populated by drunk people which will be the case after 11pm.
The committee also heard that the pavement area outside the premises was narrow, which would cause people to stand on the road to queue and eat and would not allow the premises or the council to install barriers to stop this. Mr Morris said that the risk of a road traffic incident was far greater outside the applicant’s premises than it is for the area outside Mr Ongun’s premises as the applicant’s premises was directly onto road with live traffic passing.
Prevention of public nuisance
However, on the issue of prevention of public nuisance, the committee considered this to be a lesser issue than the issues of crime and disorder and public safety. “The committee believed that there could possibly be noise nuisance issues to local residents but on the basis none had come forward to object there was no clear evidence that the premises proposed operation would breach this licensing principle.
“The committee were also not satisfied that the litter witnessed by Cllr Jones came from the applicant’s patrons and that it was likely that the litter came from patrons using all the premises in Dynevor Street.” Garin Eldred from the council’s public health department said that patrons of licensed premises, especially if they are intoxicated, lingering later in the area would inevitably cause noise issues for those living nearby in particular the bungalows behind the Kooler and the Daffodils Nursing Home.
Councillor Clive Jones said that the area was a complete mess in the mornings at weekends with litter and food strewn everywhere. It could not be shown which premises was responsible for the litter but it was suggested by those objecting that opening the current premises for longer hours would exacerbate the already significant problem.
Mr Davies also made representations with regard to litter and waste from the applicant’s premises. The police also stated that encouraging revellers to remain in the area for a longer period as was likely if the application was granted would cause a noise nuisance to local residents. In response the applicant stated that not all of the litter came from his premises and that the premises of Mr Ongun was responsible in full or part.
To get the latest email updates from WalesOnline click here https://www.walesonline.co.uk/newsletter-preference-centre/
READ NEXT:
