Town centre takeaway could have licence revoked

Scarborough councillors are being asked to revoke the licence of a town centre takeaway after allegations that it repeatedly stayed open past its permitted hours.
SamantaSamanta
Samanta

Samanta in St Thomas Street was visited by police officers in August and September who found it was still serving food past 3am, in breach of its licence.

On Thursday the council’s licensing sub-committee will be asked to remove the licence from the premises.

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North Yorkshire Police says in its submission it can see “no other option” but for it to be revoked.

The report, that will go before the committee, states: “Despite numerous verbal and written warnings the premises licence holder continues to show a blatant disregard to Responsible Authority warnings (Police and Scarborough Council) not to trade beyond permitted hours and thereby commit offences under Section 136 of the Licensing Act 2003.

“Furthermore, North Yorkshire Police states that it can see ‘no alternative other than to seek a revocation of the premises licence’.”

North Yorkshire Police added that Samanta’s location next to two taxi offices made it a “honey pot” which attracted people to hang around in the town centre in the early hours of the morning.

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Acting police sergeant Julie Johnson submitted a statement saying she visited the premises at 3.25am on August 14 and found 12 people being served food. She warned the staff they were in breach of the licence and that the council would be informed.

She returned to the premises on September 11 at 4.29am and in her statement said she found five people in Samanta being served food, one of the women eating said he had just ordered and paid for a chicken burger.

APS Johnson warned the same member of staff that she would be reporting what she had seen. She added: “Despite my previous warnings I was shocked to see that they were still operating beyond their licensed hours.”