MANAGERS at a Bracknell petrol station will be allowed to sell booze 24 hours a day despite neighbour’s worries.
The BP and M&S garage on Wokingham Road currently sells alcohol from 8 am to 11 pm but Bracknell Forest Council (BFC) licensing bosses have now said customers can buy booze at all hours.
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This comes despite concerns from neighbours living nearby at Portman Close, who feared the extension would lead to an increase in public nuisance.
Mr Jack Turrell told a BFC licensing panel: “Even now we still have a lot of people sitting by our front garden drinking and eating.
“I can imagine, with the 24-hour licence, the type of person it is going to attract is going to be even more objectionable than it is at the moment.
“Who wants to buy a bottle of whiskey at 3 am unless they are already pretty far gone?”
Mr Turrell said bottles and cans are often thrown into his garden by passers-by and added he can often hear shouting from his bedroom coming from the petrol station.
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Mrs Joan Turrell added: “We have been here thirty years and this is another step too far.”
The objectors told BFC’s licensing panel they feared drunk locals from nearby pubs would move on to the petrol station to buy more alcohol and cause disturbance.
However, Mr Robert Botkai, representing BP, said this was “not correct” and added that residents’ fears about what could happen at open-all-hours petrol stations often “don’t materialise”.
Of the 219 alcohol licenses BP petrol stations have, he added, none of them have been called in for review.
Despite pointing out the site was not one associated with “disorder”, he said Mr and Mrs Turrell’s fears were “understandable”.
He added: “We don’t take anything for granted.
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“If you do grant this today it is something we have to monitor and make sure we are not disturbing residents.”
After hearing arguments from neighbours and the applicant, a panel of BFC councillors decided to grant BP’s request on the basis no objections were received from Thames Valley Police or other responsible authorities, and because there was an opportunity to review the licence should incidents of public nuisance become frequent. a
This means the petrol station can sell alcohol 24 hours a day, seven days a week – but customers must drink away from the site premises.
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