Objections to bid by new Sheffield city centre off licence to open 20 hours a day

Liquor Local on West Street near the corner of Mappin Street wants to be licensed to open from 8am to 4am daily. The application to Sheffield City Council was made by Halshaw Mohamad Fahil.

The city centre residents’ group Changing Sheff and City ward councillor Coun Douglas Johnson have opposed the plan. A hearing of the city council’s licensing sub-committee next Tuesday (January 7) will hear objections and decide on the application.

Mr Fahil’s application refers to: “A small off licence with secure interior glass screen divider. Customer will not have any access to any alcoholic products at any time, apart from through the service hatch at the counter area.”

If approved, conditions attached to the licence would include providing extensive CCTV camera coverage, no sales of individual cans or bottles of high-alcohol beers, ciders, lagers or alcopops and a strictly-enforced Challenge 25 policy.

Street drinkers would not be allowed to buy alcohol and a strict two refusals policy before a ban must be in place and logged. South Yorkshire Police would also make risk assessments about whether the off licence could open around events such as the Tramlines music festival or football matches.

Clash

The opening hours were reduced from 8am to 4am from 8am to 5am following a police request.

Coun Johnson wrote in his objection: “As ward councillors, we are concerned at the number of off-licences concentrated in this area where there is already a clash between the night-time economy, begging and anti-social behaviour and a large population of residents who are vulnerable to alcohol-related intimidation. “Opening a new off-licence, especially with early-morning sales of alcohol, will undoubtedly contribute more to problems of crime, disorder and antisocial behaviour in the locality.

Get a bespoke headline round-up, as well as breaking updates, when you sign up to The Star’s free emails

“As you will know, the council has already consulted on a proposed Public Spaces Protection Order (PSPO) covering this location as it believes that anti-social behaviour is particularly bad here and that alcohol is a problem. “Information from the public health team will show that mortality amongst residents of City Ward is affected very disproportionately by alcohol-related deaths.”

The objection letter from Peter Sephton, on behalf of Changing Sheff, said that the “cumulative impact of excessive outlets on West Street (is) an expansion that can be expected to increase the current level of crime and disorder on West Street, caused by the number of outlets in one compact location”.

Nuisance

He predicted that “identical locations” on both sides of West Street would lead to “the likelihood of public nuisance in the location by people congregating through the night”.

Mr Sephton said that the designated premises supervisor, Stas Herish Ezzat, only turned 18 in May 2024, so could not be considered as experienced. He said that also caused concerns over Mr Ezzat’s ability to manage the premises or protect children from harm.

The objection letter added: “Sheffield is the only location in South Yorkshire that does not have a Cumulative Impact Policy to control excessive numbers of alcohol outlets in one area. This is scandalous.”

It continued: “It is difficult to find a city or town of any size in the UK that does not have this form of legislation in place to govern the volume of alcohol available in a compact location.

“It is clear from the large number of alcohol outlets and the crime figures that West Street does not need another 24/7 off-licence, so the licensing committee should reject this application.

“It is irresponsible for the city council to be repopulating the city centre with tens of thousands of residents in new apartment buildings, while at the same time having no control whatsoever over the number of alcohol outlets in any given central area.”