Magistrates leave Cardiff's attempts to create saturation zone in tatters

Cardiff Council’s attempt to establish a “saturation zone” in the city’s St Mary Street appears to be in ruins after magistrates overturned efforts to ban Tesco from selling alcohol in its store there, the South Wales Echo has reported.

The council’s licensing committee had attempted to establish the zone to prevent more alcohol being sold on the street amid concerns about violent and debauched scenes. St Mary’s Street is the centre of the city’s nightlife.

Peter Bailey, speaking on behalf of Cardiff magistrates, told the paper he could not see a reason why Tesco should not be allowed to sell alcohol at its branch.

He said: “The policy clearly refers to late-night venues. It’s quite clear a Tesco Express could hardly be referred to as a late-night venue or nightclub, whatever you want to call it.”

Bailey added that the council’s saturation zone made no reference to off-licences or provide enough evidence to justify refusing the licence.

But the magistrates’ ruling was attacked by Councillor Bob Smith, chairman of the local authority’s licensing committee, as “a bit of a mockery”.

He told the South Wales Echo: “I’m disappointed they’ve overturned this and it shows how out of touch the magistrates are with the people of Cardiff.

“There’s no point in this saturation policy now and no point the council spending money on it.”

Inspector Tony Bishop, who is in charge of policing in Cardiff city centre, had given evidence on pre-loading – where young people drink discounted alcohol before going out.

He said: “While we are strongly against the granting of further licences to premises selling alcohol on St Mary Street, we have to respect the decision of the magistrates.”

Rival supermarket Sainsbury’s is expected to appeal after a recent application for a licence for its St Mary Street store was turned down on the grounds that it was in the saturation zone.