A long-established north Halifax shop is bidding to be able to sell alcohol 24 hours a day, seven days a week – but the proposals are facing opposition.

Johal Brothers are applying to Calderdale Council seeking to vary the premises licence for their Ovenden Road, Halifax, store.

Next Thursday, April 30, Calderdale licensing councillors will be asked to rule on the application, to which the council’s community protection officers and West Yorkshire Police have lodged objections.

Owner Harit Johal has made the variation application, which if approved would allow the store to sell alcohol for consumption off the premises 24-hours a day, Sunday to Saturday.

Johal Bros store at Ovenden Road, Ovenden, Halifax. Picture: Google

placeholder image — Johal Bros store at Ovenden Road, Ovenden, Halifax. Picture: Google

The application also requests the shop be allowed to provide late night refreshment from 11pm to 5am, Sunday to Saturday.

Currently, it can sell alcohol from 10am to 10.30pm on Sundays, from 8am to 11pm Monday to Saturday, and from 8am to 10.30pm on Good Friday and from noon to 3pm and 7pm to 10.30pm on Christmas Day, although there are no restrictions on hours the shop itself can open.

In supporting documents submitted by the applicant, the Licensing Sub-committee councillors are told the shop is a well-established general convenience store selling a wide range of goods to the local community.

“The shop has held a licence for many years.

“The clear focus of the shop will continue as a general convenience store selling a variety of goods, with alcohol sales just being a part of the overall business

“The licence holders, whom have plenty of retail experience, would like to develop the business further with longer operating hours.

“The proposed hours would provide the business with the utmost flexibility, moving forward,” say Johal Brothers.

But the council’s community protection officers oppose the application, primarily around licensing grounds of preventing public nuisance in what is a residential area.

“The people purchasing alcohol in the early hours will, likely, already be intoxicated.

“The congregation of intoxicated people purchasing or drinking alcohol would cause disturbance to residents trying to sleep or leaving for work,” they argue, urging councillors to refuse the application.

West Yorkshire Police are also opposing the application, expressing concerns about potential public nuisance and disturbance and resulting impact on resources.

Both also note a warning letter issued by the police in March 2023 – this related to sale of alcohol to a 16 year old female who subsequently passed it to a 13 year old , resulting in the 13 year old being admitted to hospital as a direct result of consuming the alcohol.

However, the applicant says current licence contains no conditions and as part of this application, a new set of “detailed and robust conditions” are proposed to promote the national and local licensing objectives, including use of CCTV, a staff training scheme relating to sale of alcohol, appropriate numbers of staff, any incidents recorded in an incident book and an alcohol refusals policy.

This will mean alcohol is not sold to any person recognised or identified as a street drinker, regardless of their level of inebriation at the time, any person found to be drinking alcohol in the street, any person who is drunk or appears to be drunk, any person suspected of trying to buy alcohol for another person who is drunk or appears to be drunk, any person unable to provide valid ID when requested by staff, any person who is verbally or physically abusive towards staff or customers, and to any person suspected of trying to buy alcohol for persons who may be under age, they argue.