This popular student pizza takeaway has won permission to serve alcohol

Pitza Cano applied to the council’s licensing sub committee for permission to sell alcoholic drinks as part of a “meal deal” at its premises in Queens Road.

Authorities had said they were concerned at the plans as it could contribute towards problems of drink-related nuisance behaviour already suffered by the community.

However, the panel was convinced that enough had been done to ensure such plans would not negatively affect the community.

The takeaway applied for permission to sell alcohol every day until 3.30am, but, following discussions among panel members, council legal officer Amy Taylor told the meeting that the committee would allow the sale of alcohol until 1am.

She added that there would be a condition on the licence that alcohol could only be sold on collection, and not via delivery. There should also be extra CCTV cameras on the site.

The plans had met criticism from authorities, as well as local councillors, who claim the proposed changes could worsen antisocial behaviour problems already suffered by the area.

The takeaway falls inside one of the city’s cumulative impact policy (CIP) zones, in which the council makes it more difficult to obtain new alcohol licences, due to existing problems with drink-related antisocial behaviour.

A response to the application from West Yorkshire Police’s licensing department said: “This application provides nothing fundamentally different to what already applies to licensed premises in the area, which are essentially responsible for the problems of alcohol-related violent crime and nuisance behaviour associated within the area of Hyde Park CIP.”

However, an email from the applicants in response to concerns stated that the sale of alcohol will only be available to those aged over 18 who have valid ID, and that it would only sell a bottle of wine or beer as part of a “meal deal”.