By Carmelo Garcia – Local Democracy Reporter
A KFC near a “volatile” town-centre “flashpoint” where drunken groups “sometimes clash” will be allowed to stay open into the early hours despite police fears.
Licensing chiefs in Cheltenham have given the go-ahead for the fast food restaurant at 100 High Street to sell hot food and drink from 11pm to 4am everyday of the week.
The KFC was only previously allowed to do so from 11pm to midnight Sunday to Thursday and until 1am on Fridays and Saturdays.
Their proposal to vary the premises licence was considered by Cheltenham Borough Council last night (September 21) amid serious public safety concerns from Gloucestershire Constabulary.
PC Lee Walter relayed the force’s concerns at the Municipal Offices and called for further conditions to mitigate their public safety fears.
He thanked the applicant for agreeing to include some of their proposed conditions.
These include the closure and securing of the first floor seating area from 7pm, door supervision daily during Cheltenham racecourse meetings and from 7pm until closing on Fridays and Saturdays.
“The police welcome these concessions,” he said. “It shows the applicant recognises the highly volatile nature of the specific location.”
However, he said the constabulary maintains their objection to the proposed 4am closing time and the late night deliveries on safety grounds.
He said the KFC “sits within a “highly sensitive bottleneck” of Cheltenham’s pedestrianised night-time economy zone.
PC Walter said their data shows the cluster of late night venues is “high risk” and a “volatile flashpoint” for the town.
However, he was interrupted by the applicant’s representative just as he was about to tell the committee how many emergency calls have been reported between the hours of 11pm and 5am of the last year from three nearby venues.
Licensing sub-committee chair Helen Pemberton (LD, Battledown) said she was advised he could expand on his current objection but not present new evidence.
“When patrons leave these volatile environments, sometimes intoxicated or prone to conflict, fast food takeaways operating into the early hours halt their natural dispersal,” PC Walter continued.
“It stops them from heading to taxis or walking home. Instead it acts as a primary late night gathering destination where on occasion rival heavily intoxicated groups will converge to eat, loiter and sometimes clash.
He said a new late night fast food restaurant would create an “unmanageable flashpoint” that will place an unsustainable disproportionate burden on the police .
PC Walter also raised concerns over the use of electric bikes and mopeds and said cars by those delivering takeaways.
Vehicles would mount pavements and park on the corner of Bath Road by Sainsbury’s local to conduct pick ups, he added.
“This introduces severe public safety risks,” he said. “E-bikes will be ridden through a pedestrianised area often packed with intoxicated patrons making their way to or from public houses.
“More severely, delivery vehicles will double park and block lines of sight on Bath Road.”
He went on to say the risks on the road are “historically and tragically documented” and he referenced the death of a 19-year-old woman who was struck and killed by a vehicle in the early hours after leaving a venue.
He called for a restriction on late night refreshment hours and a complete ban on deliveries from the premises from 11pm.
When asked by a councillor, PC Walter said they would be happy with a compromise to restrict the closure to 3am on Friday and Saturdays.
The applicant’s representative said they have had discussions and reached an agreement on eight of the ten conditions they put forward. But they did not agree on two of them and they maintained their request for a 4am licence.
“Some of these things we are being asked to do by Gloucestershire police is to regulate matters beyond the direct management or control of the licence holder,” he said.
He said NNA Limited, a franchisee of KFC, and said the owner Gerard Nicholas has operated in the town for more than 50 years.
“He had his first KFC that went to 3am at 320 High Street, and then in the last 13 years he has had the Pittville Street premises,” he said.
He explained that had to relocate from Pitville Street because of the lease and what the landlord intends to do with that site.
“We want to stay as an operator in the centre of the town,” he said.
He went on to say that this is a “business that is committed to being a good neighbour to the local community and clearly wanting to create a safe space for people in the town”.
“Permitted to operate to 4am the premises would provide a trained and safe space during the most vulnerable hours of the night time economy particularly for women and girls.”
He explained they have 56 CCTV cameras, four of which are positioned externally. The minimum number of staff would be seven.
Councillors also heard how the applicant has operated for many years without the perceived concerns of the police.
“The applicant has operated the same business, to materially the same hours within the same night time economy zone and the police have no concerns about the way in which it has been managed,” he added.
He called on the committed to grant the premises licence variation as applied and subject to the conditions agreed.
The sub-committee granted the variation as applied for with the extra agreed conditions with the police.