Waitrose convenience shop can sell booze 24/7 despite concerns

A Waitrose convenience shop in South London will sell booze 24 hours a day, despite council officers' concerns it could become a magnet for late-night revellers. Wandsworth Council's Licensing Committee has given Little Waitrose, at the Shell patrol station on Queenstown Road, in Battersea, a licence to extend the hours it sells alcohol.

The authority's noise team had objected to Shell UK's plans to sell booze 24 hours a day, seven days a week, at the shop, allowing customers to buy alcohol in store and delivery drivers to collect orders for residents. The venue previously sold alcohol from 6am until midnight on Sundays to Thursdays, and up to 2am on Fridays and Saturdays.

The team raised concerns neighbours would be disturbed if the shop became one of the few in the borough able to sell booze around the clock. A letter from Robert Newby-Walker, Senior Environmental Services Officer, said: "Shops, stores and supermarkets selling alcohol can act as a magnet for people leaving other licensed premises to 'top up' their consumption.

"The particular client group seeking to buy alcohol for consumption off the premises in the early hours of the morning, therefore, differs from those seeking to buy other goods. Noise from revellers in the street, from people smoking outside premises on the public highway, or noises associated with comings and goings, where this can include third-party delivery riders as well as direct customers, cannot be controlled by the applicant nor by any other effective means other than by limiting the general hours in which premises can operate."

Barrister Sarah Clover, representing the applicant, hit back at the team's concerns at a licensing hearing on February 26. She stressed the shop would not become a magnet for late-night revellers, and that the plans were aimed at making life more convenient for passing drivers.

Ms Clover said: "This is all about insulating from loss of trade because people cannot get what they expect to get. People get confused when they are allowed to go in to buy some crisps and a packet of tea and some nappies or something, but they can't pick up a bottle of wine which is there… so they boycott that place and they go to somewhere else."

She added the shop had no record of complaints, despite already having permission to stay open and sell non-alcoholic items 24 hours a day.

The council's Licensing Committee granted the licence after noting residents did not appear concerned about the area becoming noisier, as they had not submitted any complaints or objections. A report on the committee's decision praised Mr Newby-Walker for having the public's best interests in mind, but said extending the hours the shop could sell booze was unlikely to cause serious disturbance as it was already open 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

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