The son of John Henry Sayers has lost a bid to sell wine and hot toddies on Newcastle’s main shopping street.
Councillors have rejected plans from John Henry Sayers Jr, whose father is the notorious Tyneside hardman, to serve alcohol from his city centre food kiosk on Northumberland Street. It comes after police had alleged that the proposal would leave the Saye’s To Go stall “vulnerable to serious organised crime” and may have been an attempt for the well-known family to gain “legitimacy”.
At a Newcastle City Council licensing hearing last week, it was claimed that Mr Sayers Jr was being “unfairly treated” by city authorities and that it would be “wholly wrong” to deny him an alcohol permit on the basis of his father’s history in the city’s criminal underworld. But decision-makers have now announced that they have refused the application, over concerns that it could cause nuisance and compromise public safety in one of the busiest parts of Newcastle.
