Hartlepool store's bid to create new '˜booze hatch' to sell alcohol 24 hours a day

A bid has been lodged for a 24-hour convenience store selling alcohol and featuring a hatch for overnight service in Hartlepool town centre.
York Road, Hartlepool. Picture: Google.York Road, Hartlepool. Picture: Google.
York Road, Hartlepool. Picture: Google.

A licensing application has been submitted to Hartlepool Borough Council for ‘Hadj’s Mini Market’ at 134 York Road.

If approved the store would be granted a licence to serve people 24 hours, however the store would shut its door at 11pm and serve from a hatch until 7am the next morning.

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The application is also for a licence to sell alcohol for people to drink away from the site.

Describing the shop, the application said: “A small shop selling an array of goods including groceries, sweers, soft drinks, fresh cakes, milk, tobacco etc.

“[There is] One entry point for customers and a service hatch for late/overnight service.”

In 2008 residents campaigned for the closure of a ’24-hour booze hatch’ at the 24-Hour Store in nearby Raby Road in Hartlepool.

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Residents complained of fights and noise from drunken revellers, people urinating in the street, and taxis regularly blocking the road as people visited the store.

In early 2009 the controversial 24-hour hatch was closed and council licensing officers said the store had to comply with the decision to ban the sale of alcohol between 11pm and 7am.

Community stalwart John Swift, of nearby Furness Street, fought tirelessly on behalf of his local residents’ association, also representing those in Cameron Road and Belk Street.

He said people were ‘over the moon’ when the 24-hour hatch selling alcohol was shut.

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The new application for the site in York Road also states CCTV is installed at the site with six cameras and there would be a panic button in the store with links to the police.

For safety purposes most alcohol will be behind the counter and nobody under the age of 18 will be served and the applicant has pledged to not serve anyone under the influence of alcohol.

The application said store workers would ‘asses every individual buying alcohol such as the state of the person and age and behaviour’ to ensure public safety.

The site was previously home to Dorothy Parker hairdressers.

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Any objections should be submitted to Hartlepool Borough Council by January 18.

Any comments to the council can be submitted via email to [email protected].

Nic Marko , Local Democracy Reporting Service