Shop owner to bring back 'his baby' as Hartlepool store 'with history' granted new licence

Mr Sultan Mahmood Goher went before Hartlepool Borough Council Sub-Licensing Committee to request a licence for a convenience store on Oxford Road, at the site of Bargains Locally, to sell alcohol between 9am and 10pm, seven days a week.

Councillors gave the green light for the proposals despite concerns raised by two residents ahead of the meeting it could lead to an increase in crime, disorder and public nuisance due to the sale of alcohol late at night near to the premises.

Mr Goher, who ran the shop for three years from 2008, said he wanted to make it a popular community store again.

He said: “I wanted to have a licence again so I can run my shop again, better, and bring a franchise in to employ a few more people and successfully run the shop.

“The shop was my baby, I used to enjoy working there, it was my livelihood.”

The premises’ licence to sell alcohol was revoked in October 2016 after a review brought by Hartlepool Borough Council’s Trading Standards Team ‘as a consequence of numerous sales of counterfeit tobacco’.

Mr Goher said he previously ran the store without issue, but was forced to step away due to health issues around 2011, adding he was unhappy with activity at the store while he was away.

He said: “I cancelled their lease to get rid of them.

“When I was running the shop, it was a good shop, a well known paper shop. The shop’s got history.

“We used to deliver papers to 200 houses. I had about 14/15 boys and girls delivering papers which I’m proud of, because I kept those kids off the street, and when I see them now some of them have got their own houses and very good jobs.

“I’m very close with the community, I go to the funerals, I go if somebody gets ill, I know most of the people.”

Although two letters of objection were submitted to the application, neither attended the hearing, though one did submit an extra comment of complaint.

It said: “Within 300m of the premises there are already at least three shops that sell alcohol, the area is covered with litter, antisocial behaviour, crime and drug taking.

“To put this plan into action is to only cause more and more problems to the area, we are not and do not feel safe in our streets.”

Mr Goher said his relationship with the community will help reduce incidents of antisocial behaviour, and acknowledged the policy in place to discourage people from congregating outside the premises.

He also offered to undertake a number of actions/obligations including the installation and operation of a comprehensive CCTV system and a ‘Challenge 25’ age verification policy.

Chairman Coun Tom Cassidy said: “We considered that the application was able to allay the objectors’ concerns and the licensing objectives would not be undermined by the granting of the licence.”