Papa John's in Winchester to stay open for delivery until 3am

Papa John's, in St George's Street, applied to stay open for collection and delivery until 3am.

However, Winchester City Council's licensing sub-committee said that it would allow them to open to 1am for collection and 3am for delivery.

This is the same situation for Dominoes, in Upper Brook Street.

The decision was made at a meeting on January 17, extending it from its previous opening hours of 11am-11pm.

This comes after Vodka Bar and Nightclub, in Upper Brook Street, was successful in applying to extend its opening hours to 4am.

Vodka co-owners Kalvin Collymore and Lee Davies submitted an objection to the proposal.

A second public objection was received from Mr Collins, of Upper Brook Street.

The applicant, Hamble Foods Ltd, made it clear that provisions had been made to minimise potential disruption.

Anshul Khattar, director of Hamble Foods Ltd, said: “We have had no objections from residents who live in the flats above the pizza shop. 

“The public objections are based on speculation. The premises does not serve alcohol and food is sold to be eaten off the site.

“Staff receive special training on how to avoid altercations. In the objection from Mr Collins, he said that his clothes and furniture smell of pizza. His flat is far away from the pizza shop and we have an exhaust provision.

“There are no plans to serve alcohol on the site.”

READ MORE: Papa John's in Winchester applies to stay open until 3am

Mr Khattar added that the reason behind the application was that business had been slow recently and that Dominoes, in Upper Brook Street, is open for delivery until 3am.

However, it is only open for collection until 1am.

He said: “We're not making a profit. In the last nine months, we have lost £50,000. It took Papa John's eight years to find a site in Winchester. 

“Dominoes is open (for delivery) until 3am, so we're losing customers. We have 15 staff, but business is slow. This is a desperate need for more opening hours.” 

Mr Collymore said: “If Papa John's do this, then our security team will have to deal with issues from both sides.

“Residents in the flats above don't object, which is fair enough, but the issues are different late at night.

“Papa John's is close to us (Vodka Bar) so if people make a mess, it's more work for our security team. How will the noise issue be policed? If they had their own security, then it would be ok. 

“We don't want our door staff being dragged away to other incidents. Delivery drivers will need to use the yard at the back. This is where our queue goes, so we will need to keep moving them when a delivery driver comes.”

The committee's chairman, Cllr Patrick Cunningham, said that the decision was made to minimise any risk of extra work for Vodka's security team.