Bromley Council has received an application to allow the store to sell alcohol during the extended hours.
The store is part of a Shell petrol station on Queensway in Petts Wood, Orpington. It is currently open from 7am to 11pm each day while also selling alcohol during these times.
The new submission would extend these times to 24 hours a day seven days a week. It also requests for hot food and drinks to be served at the store from 11pm to 5am daily.
The proposal has received 20 objections, including two from ward councillors. Conservative Councillor Tony Owen expressed concerns that the new hours would be harmful to nearby residents.
The Petts Wood & District Residents’ Association said in their objection that they were concerned about the potential for increased noise and disturbance in the area interrupting the sleep of children and other residents.
One local said in their objection: “I strongly object to the Shell garage becoming 24 hours if this application is true.
“The noise from pubs, restaurants, drunks and traffic is already unbearable. Having a 24 hour garage would be an utter disaster.”
Another resident said: “This would impact me greatly if this was to happen as you can imagine with noise levels of car doors banging, people shouting across the forecourt, horns beeping and not to mention the anti-social behaviour that could happen selling alcohol on the premises 24 hours a day.”
Council documents said two members of staff are planned to be on duty during the hours of 11pm and 5am each day.
It said that if only one employee was present, the main door to the shop would be closed and all business would take place through the night hatch.
A refusal and incident log is also planned to be kept at the store which would be available to the police or council officers on request.
This would be in place alongside a fully working CCTV system on the premises.
The proposal said: “Staff will be trained with regard to their responsibilities in the retail sale of alcohol and regular refresher training will also be undertaken (minimum of every six months).
“Written training records can be made available for inspection upon reasonable request by the police or other relevant officers of a responsible authority.”
The application to extend the hours of the store on Queensway will be considered by a licensing sub-committee for Bromley Council on December 11.
