Rail giant ready for battle over Exeter shop’s booze licence

One of Britain’s biggest transport companies is preparing to fight an Exeter business in a battle over late-night booze.

The owners of the Zuki’s Express convenience store next to Exeter Central station are applying to the city council for permission to sell alcohol off the premises from 10am until 11pm on Mondays and Tuesdays and from 10am until 1am from Wednesdays to Saturdays.
The application will be heard by the council’s licensing sub-committee next week (March 12).
Members of the committee will hear that the store has been newly refurbished, and wants an off-licence to sell drinks for consumption elsewhere.
But Great Western Railway (GWR) says that could add to problems of drunkenness, begging and disorder in the area.
The application says a comprehensive CCTV system will be installed and staff will be trained in conflict management as well as refusing service to intoxicated customers and awareness of local crime trends. Alcohol will be located away from the exits and will be clearly visible from the tills.
Shoppers won’t be allowed to drink outside the shop front and will be asked not to loiter outside. Signs will ask them to keep the noise down and respect local residents.
There will be regular litter patrols and extra bins. Full ID checks will be carried out on anyone looking under 25 and high-strength alcohol will not be promoted near sweets or child-oriented products.
There has only been one objection to the licence application, but it comes from Great Western Railway and runs to five pages of text.
GWR objects on all four of the main licensing objectives – crime and disorder, public safety, public nuisance and protecting children from harm.
It says Exeter Central is the gateway to the city, and it has invested heavily in it. The statement says there are already issues with disorderly behaviour, which it blames partly on ‘the many bottomless brunch deals available near to the station’ which see sustained drinking from mid-morning onwards.
It says Queen Street has a history of issues, with rough sleeping in and around the station frontage coupled with begging, alcohol and drug use.  GWR thinks the new off-licence could attract people from other parts of the city centre.
The local British Transport Police is small, under-funded and already in demand, it says. “Their ability to be in two places at any one time is severely restricted,” it adds. When the late shift finishes, cover comes from an officer in Bristol with responsibility for the whole of the south west.
The station itself has a small team of staff, and GWR highlights the risk to lone workers from ‘intoxicated’ people.
GWR also questions the wisdom of having alcohol and vaping products on sale in an area which is busy with students. Its objection goes on: “Persons purchasing alcohol will be encouraged to sit in the crescent area to drink late at night, potentially loitering and littering the area, or will move on to other surrounding areas such as Northernhay Gardens which has previously suffered issues around anti-social behaviour.”