Huddersfield village locals fear drunks and public nuisance if café sells booze until 10pm

Milnsbridge residents fear their streets will be plagued with “rowdy” and “drunken” behaviour if a local coffee shop is allowed to sell alcohol until 10pm.

After having a licence granted back in October, Le Sorelle at Pickford Street is back with another application to be determined by Kirklees Council’s Licensing Committee tomorrow (June 25).

Last year, the Milnsbridge-based coffee shop had wanted a licence to sell alcohol to be consumed on the premises between 10 am and 10.30pm Monday to Sunday. This saw 21 objections from members of the public, and concerns raised by Environmental Health.

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Instead of granting the licence as applied for, the committee opted to allow fewer hours for alcohol sales - from 10am until 6pm everyday. This came with the condition that the alcohol could only be drunk inside the premises.

Now, Le Sorelle hopes the committee will agree to increase the hours for alcohol sales until 10pm, seven days a week and remove the attached condition. However, this has once again gained opposition from the local community who expressed fears of rowdy behaviour and public nuisance.

One resident said: “An alcohol and live music licence from 10am to 10pm is totally inappropriate in this residential area, all day drinking lessens peoples’ inhibitions and leads to rowdy behaviour. Forty-two percent of violent incidents are alcohol-related.

“People walking past will feel intimidated by groups of people drinking and listening to live music outside the premises. I myself would feel unsafe…”

Another added: “People drinking inside and outside the cafe for 12 hours per day, seven days per week is going to cause an unacceptable level of noise in a residential area where we live.

“We are also concerned about the behaviour of drunken people in our area and of men in particular urinating in the woods opposite the cafe which are by the side of our road and causing a public nuisance and potential anti-social behaviour.”

While Environmental Health says it does not object to the sale of alcohol within the premises being raised until 10pm, it does object to alcohol being consumed outside of the shop.

The Licensing Committee will determine the application at 1pm tomorrow.

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