Licensing Decision – SPAR St Mary Street

The Licensing Committee of Cardiff Council has today considered an application by SPAR of 31 St Mary Street, Cardiff CF10 1AB to extend the hours in which it could remain open to 24 hours a day and to permit the sale of alcohol for an additional two hours until 11pm.

The SPAR is in a saturation zone, which has special problems of crime disorder and nuisance associated with the consumption of alcohol. It is the Council’s policy not to grant any further licences in the area.

The Committee heard strong evidence from the police about problems of violent disorder in the area. Local businesses and residents (represented at the meeting by Councillor Elizabeth Clark) also made objections because of concerns that SPAR was contributing towards alcohol-related violence. In light of the evidence, the Committee voted against extending the hours of SPAR any further

Councillor Ed Bridges, Chair of Cardiff Council’s Licensing Committee said: “The Council is committed to reducing alcohol-related violence on St Mary’s Street and elsewhere in the city centre. In this case, the extension of hours proposed by SPAR would have exacerbated the problems, so we felt refusal of permission was the only sensible conclusion we could reach.”