A TROUBLED off-licence in Shepherd's Bush Green has been refused permission to sell alcohol until 2am seven days a week.
Londis, in Goldhawk Road, are currently allowed to sell alcohol between 11am and 11pm between Monday and Saturday and between 11am to 10.30pm on Sundays.
But they applied to Hammersmith and Fulham Council to extend those hours from 7am to 2am all week but it was flatly refused by the council's licensing committee on Monday.
It comes after the shop sold alcohol to undercover police officers out of hours at 11.55pm to officers on an undercover sting operation on January 14 and police being called to the shop last November to find people sitting on car bonnets and openly drinking alcohol at 2am.
A 70-resident petition against the application was also submitted by Greenside Residents' Action Group.
And their bid to extend their licence was criticised by the police who are fighting a daily battle with street-drinkers and anti-social behaviour in Shepherd's Bush Green.
Stuart Ratcliffe, H&F Police licensing sergeant, said: "Staff funding is fundamental to alcohol sales. The premises' recent test purchase failure is a clear indication of the failure to provide staff training to an adequate standard.
"Shepherd's Bush Green is a borough hotspot for street drinking and anti-social behaviour associated with street drinking and is currently a hotspot for crime.
"Police believed that an increase in licensable hours for this premises would increase the potential for further offences in the vicinity of Shepherd's Bush Green."
Sergeant Stephen Gilbert, of Shepherd's Bush Green Safer Neighbourhood Team, said: "The presence of street drinkers and their anti-social behaviour in the area has been cause for common complaint by many local residents.
"After midnight the shops that are still open, especially the ones that sell alcohol, are a meeting point for street people. They congregate outside, causing noise and being intimidating to passers-by."
In their application, Londis said they would install extra CCTV outside their shop, keep an up-to-date refusal book and contain all alcohol in lockable shuttered cabinets.
But Chris Noonan, of Greenside Residents Action Group, said their current 11am to 11pm licence is already causing enough problems in the area.
He said: "This is a retail store, not a pub with facilities to serve as an on-trade premises. It always seems empty of customers and, presumably, just wants to attract in the less-than-desirable elements who seek alcohol at hours when close neighbours will be asleep.
"We have particular local problems with street drinkers in daytimes and patrons of licensed premises causing noise, disruption, public urination and anti-social behaviour in much broader forms after leaving licensed premises around the neighbourhood.
"Rather than Londis being considered for further extensions to its current licence, our view is that its current licence should be reviewed in view of breaches and proximity to residential properties."
Londis were unavailable for comment at the time of going to press.
