A filling station in Aberdeenshire has been denied a premises licence to sell alcohol after the local authority decreed there was already an “overprovision” of shops selling booze in the area.
MFG, which operates the Morrisons site on Queen Street, Peterhead, had argued that an alcohol offering at the petrol station would cater “for the customer who is looking for a top-up shop that the convenience store offers, perhaps something for their dinner at night and a bottle of wine”, or those who had forgotten to pick up a gift on their way to visit friends or family.
But at a meeting of Aberdeenshire Council’s licensing board, councillors highlighted there were already, in addition to the local supermarket, 18 stores in the vicinity offering alcohol, while licensing officers said the area was subject to “increased risk of alcohol related harm”, according to the Press & Journal newspaper.
The board unanimously denied the licence, with one member saying: “The pursuit of convenience cannot justify the safeguards that exist to prevent harm with our licensing objectives.”
