Takeaway refused late licence over area's disorder

A Greek takeaway in Leeds city centre has been refused permission to serve food into the early hours because of "serious concerns" over crime and public disorder in the area.

Apollonis, on Duncan Street, faced objections from police and the council over its application to open until 04:00 BST on Fridays and Saturdays and 02:00 BST Sunday to Thursday.

The venue, run by Apollonis Greek Food Gyros Ltd,  is in a Cumulative Impact Area designated by the council as suffering from high levels of alcohol-related crime.

PC Andy Clifford told Leeds City Council's licensing sub-committee hearing that they were seeking an "an outright refusal of the licence".

A licensing report stated that the area was designated as a "red zone" which meant it was "considered highly saturated and experiences particularly high levels of crime, disorder or nuisance."

Susan Duckworth, the council's principal licensing officer, said her department had been trying to help the venue operators apply for the licence.

But despite concerns over alcohol-related disorder in the area, they had not shown how they would manage crowds or drunk customers, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

Mrs Duckworth said: "I really strongly feel they would not be capable of organising their business in a way that would help with the problems we have with nuisance and disorder in that part of the city."

Councillors unanimously voted to reject the licence application after deciding to proceed in the venue operators' absence.