Complaints have been lodged over a convenience store’s bid to sell alcohol.

Mr Sultan Mahmood Goher last year submitted a licensing application to Hartlepool Borough Council to allow Bargains Locally, on Oxford Road in the town, to sell alcohol.

The application is to enable the store to sell alcohol between 9am and 10pm, seven days a week.

However two concerns have been lodged to the plans from residents living nearby to the site.

One resident said: “Considering that in less than 300m we have three premises that sell alcohol, I do not think this warrants a licence. The area is already plagued with crime, drugs and alcohol, with people littering.

“The people around this area are becoming more and more sick of noise, anti-social behaviour and litter. Our street will be directly affected, as will my residence.”

The other objection stated their concerns were an increase in crime, disorder and public nuisance due to the sale and consumption of alcohol late at night near to the premises.

The application is now to go before the council Licensing Sub-Committee on Thursday for them to decide whether to grant the licence.

A council report ahead of the meeting states the premises had previously been licensed to sell alcohol.

However, the licence was revoked by a licensing committee in October 2016 following a review brought by Hartlepool Borough Council’s Trading Standards Team.

The review was ‘as a consequence of numerous sales of counterfeit tobacco at the premises and a number of seizures of counterfeit tobacco’ according to the report.

The licence holder at that time was Mr Kamil Faraj Amin but the actual ownership of the business was never truly established.

The owner of the property itself was, and still is, Mr Irfan Johar, who is the applicant’s brother.

The applicant has offered to undertake a number of actions/obligations that, if granted, would become legally binding conditions on the licence.

These include the installation and operation of a comprehensive CCTV system and a ‘Challenge 25’ age verification policy.

The application states: “The business must maintain a refusals book to record all occasions where the supply of alcohol has been refused including dates/times, staff member and description of the incident.

“Groups of people will be discouraged from congregating outside the premises.

“Signage will be displayed to encourage customers to leave the premises quietly.

“Regular checks shall be made by staff for litter outside the premises.”

Roller blind shutters would also be installed to cover alcohol on display in the shop from 6am and 9am as part of the application, with the store open from 6am until 10pm.