Former Southall Toy Shop Denied Alcohol Licence

Police object to application in anti-social behaviour hotspot

Police say they are called regularly to King Street in Southall. Picture: Google Streetview

May 22, 2025

An application to convert a toy store into an off-licence in a crime and anti-social behaviour hotspot in Southall has been rejected.

Ealing Council’s licensing sub-committee heard the application on Wednesday (21 May), but denied permission because the site is within a special policy area.

This means there is a presumption to refuse off-licence applications except in “exceptional circumstances”, which councillors did not feel was met.

A-Star Retail hoped to convert its toy shop into a convenience store selling alcohol. The road, King Street, is 320m long with between eight and ten convenience stores currently selling alcohol.

The application sought permission to sell alcohol until 10:30pm daily, alongside other items such as newspapers and magazines. A-Star Retail also claimed there would be no sale of drinks with a strength higher than 5.5 per cent.

The Metropolitan Police presented its opposition to the committee. Its concerns related to the area typically having large groups of loitering drunk men, assaults and intimidation of the public, and theft from shops which has involved violence.

Sergeant Dimitri Kassar said, “The venue is in an area largely affected by anti-social behaviour, nuisance, a lot in essence higher than many other areas in the borough… the London Ambulance Service also has a large number of calls to this particular area.

“The area is known to police for frequent street drinkers, class A drug users, which in turn creates a high volume of anti-social behaviour and disorder in this particular area…

“We as the police believe that due to the eight to ten stores on that particular stretch of road that the area has reached a saturation point.”

The council’s licensing team also opposed the application. Council licensing officer Robert Dear told the committee that after an hour and a half he had not heard anything to alleviate his concerns.

Chair of the meeting Councillor Kim Nagpal returned the decision. She said, “The panel believes that Mr Madden (the applicant) despite his sincere endeavours has not demonstrated that he is capable of running a shop in a special policy area, and he did not demonstrate an exception for the sub-committee to consider in his application.”

Philip James Lynch - Local Democracy Reporter