The Licensing Sub-Committee of Telford and Wrekin Council are scheduled to consider one application for a new premises licence at their meeting on 16 December 2024. The meeting will also consider the appointment of a chair, declarations of interest from members, and may consider other matters.

Application for a new Premises Licence for Cravings Africa, Unit 4, Fourth Avenue, Ketley Bank, Telford

Quashfam5 Limited have applied for a new premises licence for Cravings Africa, on Fourth Avenue in Ketley Bank.

The application requests permission for the following:

• To sell alcohol between 12pm and 10pm every day.
• To play recorded music indoors between 12pm and 10pm every day.
• To allow the premises to be open to the public from 9am to 10pm every day.

The applicant, a limited company, intends to operate the premises as a restaurant, specialising in African cuisine . Their application states:

Our intention is to continue to be a food led business with the option of providing alcohol with meals if requested.

Representations about the application have been received from a local resident, Tracey Ricketts, and her partner, Kevin Biles.

Ms Ricketts wrote to the Licensing Team to raise concerns that the application, if granted, would be detrimental to the health and safety and well-being of those living nearby , and said that previous tenants had caused noise and had parties late into the evening .

In her letter, Ms Ricketts goes on to say that the current tenants had already had several events where the traffic was extreme , and that residents were themselves finding it difficult to park their own vehicles outside their homes .

Ms Ricketts also said that she believes the application would:

• Encourage antisocial behaviour.
• Cause distress to numerous vulnerable elderly residents .
• Put children at risk as they pass by on their way to and from school.

She and Mr Biles also sent a petition to the Council to accompany the representation, which was signed by other residents.

Responses were also received from statutory consultees, including the Police, Fire Service, and Environmental Health.

Planning said they had no comment to make. Environmental Health said that they had no objection to the application, and noted that the applicant had held one event under a Temporary Events Notice on 21 September 2024, which was run very well and did not cause any issues .

The council's Health Protection team also responded to say that they did not object to the application, but they did make a number of recommendations to the applicant. They encouraged the applicant to consider installing signage to indicate when alcohol sales were permitted and suitable measures to be used to avoid inadvertent sale of alcohol before licensed sales can commence .