Graudo Foods Leeds: Portuguese and Brazilian Harehills Lane shop applies to deliver alcohol to customer homes

Graudo Foods, on Harehills Lane, has applied to the city council for a licence to sell booze off-site from midday until 4pm between Mondays and Saturdays.

But the plan has received objections from the police, environmental health officers and ward councillors representing the Burmantofts and Richmond Hill ward the store lies in.

At a licensing hearing on Tuesday, some of those objectors cited the area’s chronic problems with street drinking. The shop itself lies in Leeds’ cumulative impact area (CIA), which is designed to minimise new alcohol licences.

The store owner, Fausto de Carvalho, had initially asked for a licence to sell booze at the shop for 12 hours a day on weekdays, but altered the application significantly when the objections were tabled.

Speaking at the hearing, Mr de Carvalho admitted he’d been unaware of Harehills Lane’s problems before moving there, but insisted he’d taken steps to understand the situation.

“We’ve made changes to the original application,” he said.

“We are here not to object but to co-operate and to work together.

He added: “We made a mistake in the beginning, not to enquire about the area. But as soon as we knew about the area we started to make enquiries so we can see what’s going on. We’ve tried to engage with people and I’ve talked to lots of people.”

However, local Labour councillor Asghar Khan said he “strongly” objected to the application.

“This licence will not help to improve the area,” he told the hearing.

“There isn’t a day that goes past where we don’t get a phone call from the area about issues such as anti-social behaviour and crime.

“I’m not against off-licences but I strongly object to this application because of where it’s located.”

Council licensing officer Susan Duckworth added: “As nice and as well meaning as the applicant comes across, it doesn’t seem like he appreciates the issues that are being faced in this area.

“We have groups of people in the street who gather to drink and it creates an intimidating atmosphere.

“If you walk down Harehills Lane, it’s just shop after shop after shop. A good two thirds of them are selling food. This creates a very saturated market whereby people feel like they have to sell alcohol. But we have a CIA for a reason.”

A panel of three councillors have made a decision on whether or not to grant the licence, though it will not be made public until the end of this month.