A national supermarket giant has been given permission to move into Newport — after concerns its presence would fuel anti-social behaviour.
Today (Wednesday), the Isle of Wight Council has given Tesco the green light to hold an alcohol and food licence at its new store on Newport High Street.
It is now thought the chain’s sixth Island store, which is moving into the former Laura Ashley and H.Samuel store, will open by Easter 2023.
The application will see the express store sell food and alcohol for consumption off the premises from 6am to midnight, seven days a week.
The proposals had led to concerns from one local objector, who did not attend the council hearing, who claimed if the application was granted it would fuel public disorder.
Speaking at the council’s licensing sub-committee hearing, Tesco’s licensing manager, Hardish Purewal, said the chain had had no licensing issues raised with Island stores in the past.
Ms Purewal said in the express store there would only be a small number of alcohol lines and the store would not be branded as an off-licence but predominantly a grocery shop with an alcohol offering.
Along with CCTV, staff would be able to refuse to serve alcohol to customers, she said, and have good training programmes for staff on age-restricted sales.
She said:
“It is a product we want to sell responsibly and needs to be drunk responsibly.”
Ms Purewal thanked the objector for their representation and said it was good to hear what is going on in the town but there was no evidence of problems and should the police have had any issue they would have contacted them.
Council officers said there was no evidence to suggest other retail outlets in the town selling alcohol on the same terms have any bearing on incidents of anti-social behaviour.
Questions were raised about what would happen when the Isle of Wight Festival took place, and whether, like other stores, there would be promotions on alcohol or an increase in stock.
The manager of Tesco Express in Wootton told the committee that in recent years, with alcohol now able to be pre-ordered at the festival site, its sales had massively dropped.
They confirmed they had never done a promotional price on the Island but may bring in more stock due to the increase in demand.
The sub-committee agreed to the licence and wished Tesco success with the store.
There is still mystery surrounding the future of the H.Samuel store on Newport High Street as, unlike Laura Ashley, the building is still occupied.
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