Concern over Sheffield shop’s plan to sell booze from 7am to 2am

City Ward councillors Douglas Johnson, Martin Phipps and Ruth Mersereau submitted a joint objection to Sheffield Council against Corner Shop’s, at 253 Glossop Road, plans after alarm was raised by local residents.

Coun Johnson said alcohol consumption was a serious health issue in the city centre with almost double the number of residents having alcohol-related conditions compared to the rest of the city.

He said: “Residents are understandably concerned about the impact of yet more early morning and late night sales of alcohol and the ward councillors are supporting them by lodging a formal objection to the licensing hours of this shop.

“We want good, well-run local businesses to do well and we know that residents would in fact welcome a decent convenience store that is not run by one of the big chains. However, this is very different from a shop that wants to start serving cheap alcohol from 7am.

“Many agencies – both in the public and the voluntary sector – do a huge amount of work in the city centre to tackle the complex issues relating to rough sleeping, mental health and alcohol and drug abuse. Their work is undermined by increasing the availability of early-morning alcohol from off-licences.”

In a joint objection to Sheffield Council, the councillors said: “We support the objections of the residents that we have seen. As is well known, there has been a proliferation in off-licences along West Street and Glossop Road is effectively a continuation of this. Whilst residents have expressed a wish for a decent convenience store, they are right to raise concerns about the foreseeable attraction of early morning or late-night drinkers.

“In particular, there is a concern about the business’s wish to sell alcohol to people from 7am, given the well-known issues of street-drinking and rough-sleeping in the city centre. This is a serious and damaging issue that impacts on a lot of people who live or work in the city centre, not to mention the health and lives of those with serious alcohol misuse problems. Accordingly, this is relevant to the licensing principles of prevention of crime and disorder, public safety and prevention of public nuisances. A later start-time would therefore be appropriate – we suggest 9am.

“We also agree with residents that an earlier cut-off than 2am would assist with issues of noise and nuisance.”