Long-derelict 'eyesore' Leeds shop set to reopen as family-run convenience store
‘Our goal is to serve the community’
A derelict convenience store in Leeds can be reopened after permission was granted for alcohol sales.
The shop at 352 Tong Road in Farnley will open from 8am-11pm daily after a licence was granted by the council.
The original application for a premises licence sought 24-hour alcohol sales.
But the applicant, Gurvinder Sagoo, reached agreements with the police and Leeds City Council.
He told a licensing hearing he planned to re-open the vacant shop and run the premises with his son.
Mr Sagoo told councillors: “We saw an opportunity. There is no local shop there.
“We purchased it to regenerate it because it was a bit of an eyesore.”
Mr Sagoo said he planned to create flats above the shop to help meet demand for more housing in the area.
He said: “It breaks my heart when people don’t have a roof over their head.”
Conditions on the licence would include a Challenge 25 policy, CCTV and staff training. Mr Sagoo said: “All that will be enforced.”
One letter of objection was received from a nearby householder who said there were already pubs and shops selling alcohol nearby.
Mr Sagoo said he agreed 24-7 alcohol sales would be excessive and measures would be in place to prevent public nuisance.
In a letter to the objector, he said: “When my son and I purchased this long-derelict property to regenerate it into a family-run business, our goal was to serve the community, not disrupt it.”
A licensing sub-committee voted to grant the licence with agreed conditions following the hearing at Leeds Civic Hall.