The new owners of Peterhead’s Morrisons petrol station have been told they can’t sell alcohol – over fears the town has to many places selling drink already.
Motor Fuel Group (MFG) bought all 337 of the supermarket’s petrol stations across the UK in a massive £2.5 billion deal last year.
Bosses wanted permission to sell booze at the Queen Street site to safeguard its future.
The matter recently went before the Aberdeenshire licensing board, where some concerns were raised…
Why did the Peterhead petrol station need an alcohol licence?
MFG took over the Blue Toon unit in November and spent £60,000 renovating it.
One fridge stocked with alcohol was proposed by the “very experienced operator”.
MFG agent Andrew Hunter explained the firm was not competing with Morrisons.
Instead, for the business to survive it needs to focus on providing convenience shops and that’s why the majority of its premises across the country are licensed.
Mr Hunter said: “This is for the customer who is looking for a top-up shop that the convenience store offers, perhaps something for their dinner at night and a bottle of wine.
“Or as we’ve all done, we’re travelling to go and see somebody, its a celebration and we realise we’ve forgotten to buy them a bottle of wine so when we are topping up the car we buy a bottle to give as a gift.”
Why did officers ask for the licence to be refused?
But the board were recommended to refuse the request as Peterhead was found to have a “significant” amount of off-sales premises in the town.
As well as the supermarket next door, there are 18 stores selling booze in the surrounding area, which officers deemed to be an “overprovision”.
Members were also told the town was identified by licensing officers as an area subject to “an increased risk of alcohol related harm”.
The board had to decide if they had enough information to go against policy and grant the licence or deny it.
What did board members say?
Councillor Geoff Crowson didn’t believe it was much of a problem and didn’t think it would encourage more people to buy alcohol.
“They could just literally go a few yards further and purchase alcohol anyway,” he said.
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But councillor Dawn Black argued the committee should stick to the rulebook.
She said: “People are not inconvenienced for alcohol purchases.”
Despite the application being described as “modest”, councillor Jenny Nicol believed the evidence from licensing officers was “overwhelming”.
She added: “The pursuit of convenience cannot justify the safeguards that exist to prevent harm with our licensing objectives.”
The board went on to unanimously refuse the application.
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