New nightclub asks for extended hours

The owner of a new nightclub on the former Yates site in West Street has asked Brighton & Hove City Council to approve later opening hours.

The old Yates pub had a licence until 02:00 but the new owner Stonegate, which is trading as  Popworld, has asked for an additional hour to close at 03:00.

But Sussex Police and the city council licensing team have both formally objected on the grounds that West Street is a crime hotspot on Friday and Saturday nights with 82% of the crimes logged in the year to February happening in the street.

West Street is also in the centre of an area that has been designated a ‘cumulative impact zone’ [CIZ] where licensed premises are deemed to be at saturation point which police and the council say is linked to problems of crime and disorder, anti-social behaviour and public nuisance in the area.

Sussex Police expressed concern that the proposed 03:00 closing time would see Popworld customers leave the venue at the same time as hundreds leave Pryzm further down the street. But Stonegate Pub Company’s operations director Paul Wright said that the focus of the venue had switched from food and sport to entertainment, music and “songs you can sing along to” which attracts an older, female-led demographic presumably less likely to cause trouble in the street.

A decision is expected on May 6th.