Rancheese, a pizza and burger takeaway on Caversham Road, has been given permission to sell food late after a council hearing on Thursday, March 26.
The shop sits on a busy stretch of town lined with food outlets, convenience stores and The Moderation pub, and is a key route between Reading town centre and the Reading Festival site in Richfield Avenue over the August Bank Holiday Weekend.
The owners originally applied to sell food and drink until 4am every night. A neighbour from over the bridge in Caversham objected, writing: "I see that this business has applied to sell food until 4am. "It's crazy, and I can see a 24-hour opening being asked for next. "It will cause more traffic, especially on Sunday to Thursday and put pressure onto nearby businesses to do the same. "There are far too many takeaways in Reading, the last thing we need is them open until 4am."
After the objection the owners trimmed the hours: sales until 4am on Fridays and Saturdays, and until 2am on Sundays to Thursdays. Because an objection was made, the council's licensing applications sub-committee held a meeting to decide.
At the meeting, licensing consultant Bill Donne, representing Rancheese, said: "Caversham Rd is extremely busy, throughout the whole day, even through the evening, that said, it does ease off at 11pm onwards."
Cllr Louise Keane asked why late hours were sought. Mr Donne replied: "There's quite a demand, there is a market there for people working shifts, and so on, and there are other areas that are busy at that time, such as Oxford Road and Wokingham Road." He also said the business would carry out a risk assessment to see if a door supervisor would be needed during Reading Festival and other busy periods such as Christmas and New Year's Eve.
The council's licensing team accepted the objection as relevant because of possible public nuisance from increased traffic. When cllr Paul Woodward asked what assurances could calm the objector, Mr Donne said: "It is a vibrant area, I struggle to think one pizza takeaway is going to cause huge traffic problems, there is parking, we don't feel there'll be an adverse impact on public nuisance."
Councillors Keane, Woodward and David Stevens approved the adjusted licence. Mr Donne said he was "delighted" with the decision.
James Aldridge, Local Democracy Reporter
