By Carmelo Garcia – Local Democracy Reporter
Plans for a new Tesco in Cheltenham town centre to sell booze have been approved as the store aims to open in February.
Cheltenham Borough Council licensing chiefs have granted a premises licence for the planned store at 106 Promenade.
The multinational retailer wants to be able to sell alcohol from 6am and provide late-night refreshment from 11pm until midnight.
A Tesco representative told the licensing committee on December 9 they are looking to open the store in February next year and Tesco stores in the spa town work very well.
She said they have five stores in the Cheltenham area and people in the local community would get preferential treatment when they recruit staff for the new store.
“We’ve got a superstore here and then we’ve got four in the Express format, which is very much around convenience and top-up shops,” she said.
“In these stores we sell a very limited range but a very targeted range to what the local area requires,” she said.
“We don’t sell high strength products as such unless they are a premium or craft product.
“We don’t sell any white ciders or any of the other higher products in the small stores.
“Alcohol is a small but very important part of our business. The type of alcohol we will have in the store is very much geared towards what people will be buying in the local area.”
During the debate, Chairman Simon Wheeler (LD, Hesters Way) said it would be “very churlish of them” to restrict the sale of alcohol from 11pm to midnight when there are pubs and clubs nearby open until gone midnight.
But he asked for a good reason why they should be selling alcohol between 6am and 9am in the morning.
“That seems a little bit odd to me,” he said.
She said the majority of Tesco stores have licensing hours which match their opening hours.
“They are trading hours,” she said.
And explained that for overnight shift workers 6am is seen as their evening.
“We are not an off licence,” she said. “We will have a very small amount of alcohol that will be on offer, anyway.”
The licensing committee granted the application as applied for.
Council solicitor Vikki Fennell said: “Tesco is a huge business with other similar stores in the town where there has been no evidence that any of the other stores have been associated with any anti-social behaviour and there was no evidence to show this store would be any different.”