A PUBLIC hearing will be held next week after objections to a late night drinks licence for a new Weymouth business.

Baps and Pitta at 50 St Mary Street is asking for a late night indoor refreshment licence but has attracted objections.

A panel of Dorset councillors will now decided on Monday, March 18th, if the application should be allowed.

It asks to be able to sell drinks on the premises up until 1am Sunday to Thursday and until 4am on Friday and Saturday and until 3am on a Sunday on a Bank Holiday weekend.

Objections to the hours have come from Weymouth Town Council and the ward Dorset Council councillor in addition to five members of the public. They all relate to the potential for noise and anti-social behaviour.

A drawing submitted to Dorset Council with the licensing application shows seating inside the premises for 16 people.

Dorset Police has not objected to the licence but has asked for a condition which says that door staff need to be employed when the business is open for licensable activities after midnight, until the business is closed.

Ward councillor Jon Orrell says that urinating in the streets in the area is a problem with the Maiden Street public toilets closing at 8pm. He suggests that if the business is to stay open until the early hours it must keep its toilets open until it closes and should retain the double doors currently at the premises to cut down on disturbance. The business had said it proposed to shut its loos at 10.30pm.

On neighbour had written to say that around 50 people live in the immediate area.

Similar points were raised by Weymouth Town Council which said: “a lack of customer toilets will increase disorder and antisocial behaviour in the local area. Closing the toilet will directly cause antisocial behaviour with abuse of side streets, such as Helen Lane. The Council would request that the applicant provides a toilet for paying customers to use throughout all their opening hours. The double door entry is worth retaining to cut down on noise and nuisance to neighbours. People should be able to eat within the establishment, not directed to the street where they will cause littering and nuisance noise.”

Respect, Weymouth has objected to the proposed licensing saying the business will add to disturbance in the town centre with plenty of other food choices already available.

It its submission the group says: “It is clear that once a takeaway is in place, enforcement action for matters of ASB, vomiting, public toileting etc, with a stretched police service is virtually non-existent. This needs to be designed out at the application stage, rather than enabled for a fall after. Police are already stretched and unable to attend many incidents of nuisance, ASB, and other crime in this area. Residents and businesses have to mop this up. In addition, the true level of crime and nuisance to the area is far greater than that presented in police statistics. Lack of attendance results in lack of reporting. That’s a sad but honest fact.”