A SHOP at a large student development opposite a bail hostel won’t be allowed to sell single cans above a certain alcohol percentage if it’s awarded a premises licence by Swansea Council.
The owners of the shop, which is being fitted out at the St Davids student accommodation in New Cut Road, have applied to sell alcohol from 9am to 11pm seven days a week, and concerns were raised at a council licensing meeting that this could exacerbate anti-social behaviour in the area.
Jeraldchandru Balasingh, who would be the convenience store’s designated supervisor, said he would abide by conditions imposed by the council such as the single can one and that he hadn’t had any issues with other shops of his.
The licensing sub-committee heard from ward councillors Mike White and Beverley Hopkins, who said people living in the Llais Tawe residential complex off New Cut Road experienced “unruly” student behaviour and were asked for money by people from a bail hostel opposite.
Cllr White said people sometimes camped out on the riverbank by Llais Tawe. “To have an off-licence near there is only going to create further problems,” he said. There had also been issues, he said, with drinking, drug-taking and assaults at a tunnel close by.
Cllr Hopkins said she felt residents of Llais Tawe deserved better. It was put to her that South Wales Police had not objected or responded to the premises licence application by 3S Retail Ltd. She said she was disappointed about that.
Licensing sub-committee chairwoman Cllr Penny Matthews said the shop at St Davids wouldn’t be allowed to sell single cans with an alcohol volume above 6.5% – one of several recommended conditions if the licence is approved. Cllr White asked how this would be monitored.
Mr Balasingh said the shop would sell many other products, including bakery goods, and that he would work closely with the council and carry out all due diligence.
Sunthar Lal Kailasanathan, of 3S Retail Ltd, said there would be CCTV cameras at the store and that the area outside would be well lit. He also said it was easier to walk from the bail hostel to the Lidl store at Parc Tawe retail park, where alcohol was sold, than it was to walk from the hostel to the St Davids shop. A report before the sub-committee said alcohol was also sold at Home Bargains, Parc Tawe.
Meanwhile, the meeting heard there were parking flare-ups on roads behind the St Davids accommodation blocks. Llais Tawe residents faced “a barrage of shouting and abuse”, according to Cllr White, when they asked people to move from residents’ parking bays.
Mr Kailasanathan said there was one parking space allocated to the convenience store in Pottery Street and that deliveries would be via this road rather than the entrance in New Cut Road. Mr Balasingh said people working at the shop were likely to live nearby, reducing the need to travel by car and park.
There were three written objections to the application, while another person supported it, writing: “We live opposite Parc Tawe with multiple shops, many selling alcohol, it makes no sense to object to this one when others are so close by.”
The licensing sub-committee retired to consider its decision and will let the applicants know within five working days.
