Wood Green restaurant defends alcohol licence bid

Owners of Sweet Peppa say selling booze won’t impact on street drinking levels in the area, reports Simon Allin, Local Democracy Reporter

A Caribbean restaurant says its plans to sell alcohol will not encourage binge drinking or add to existing street drinking problems.

Rachel Powell, who runs Sweet Peppa in Lordship Lane, Wood Green, wants to sell traditional Caribbean drinks such as Guinness Punch and Rum Slush alongside eat-in meals and takeaways.

She has applied for a licence to sell alcohol from 12pm until 10.30pm on Monday to Thursday and from 12pm until 9.30pm on Sundays and bank holidays.

Two residents objected to the plans, fearing they would lead to more crime and anti-social behaviour in the area. One wrote that the street was already “awful to walk down”, with groups hanging around betting shops and drinking, and “open drug deals being done on the street”.

The application was considered by a meeting of Haringey Council’s licensing subcommittee on Thursday (17th). Ryan Skidmore, from National Compliance Training, told the meeting the application was designed to “enhance the customer experience” and “increase business to the premises” by allowing people to have alcoholic drinks with their meals.

He said previous problems in the area were “nothing to do with Rachel”, and she had agreed conditions with the police and the council’s noise team to address their concerns.

Rachel told the committee the people causing a nuisance on the street were “stopping business” for her, adding that she did not know them, they did not come into the restaurant, and she wished she could have them removed.

She added that she was not trying to encourage “binge drinking” and wanted to serve drinks to “go with the Caribbean food”, adding that other shops on the road were already licensed to sell alcohol and did so at a lower price.

Neither of the residents who objected to the application attended the licensing meeting to speak against the plans.

Under questioning from councillors, Rachel said the restaurant would operate a ‘challenge 25’ policy so that customers who look under 25 are asked for identification to prove their age.

She explained that drinks would be served in plastic or foam cups, not glass containers, and would be wrapped in cling film when they were served with takeaways.

Following the public debate, the committee discussed the application in private and will issue its decision within five working days.

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