Eastbourne wine delivery business looks to assuage neighbours’ concerns

On Friday (September 4), a panel of Eastbourne borough councillors met to consider a licensing application for the sale of alcohol from a home at 11 Piltdown Way.

The application has been put forward by Luke and James Mould, with the property to act as a sales hub for their online wine delivery business Vino Bros Ltd, which trades as Juiced Wines.

While no alcohol would be sold directly from the premises, the application had seen opposition from a number of neighbours, who argue that the pickup and delivery of wine would cause a public nuisance.

However, these concerns were disputed by Suraj Desor, a lawyer acting for the Mould brothers, who said: “The concerns raised here as to noise nuisance are speculative and not based on any real evidence. 

“The reality is the applicant is operating a small internet business, selling artisan wines online. They don’t have large numbers of deliveries or collections each day,

“There is a maximum of one collection of customer orders and one delivery of stock each day; and on many days there are none at all.”

Mr Desor offered to add this arrangement – no more than one delivery and one collection per day – as a formal condition. He also offered to amend business hours to 11am to 7pm rather than 11am to 9pm as originally applied for. 

Mr Desor also said deliveries and collections would both be made by “standard vans”, not large lorries as some residents had feared. 

He acknowledged that a large lorry had delivered stock to the premises on one occasion in the past, but said this had been due to an error which had been taken up with the supplier.

This explanation appeared to reassure Nicholas Parrett, a neighbour who had lodged an objection to the application. Mr Parrett was the only objector to attend and speak at the meeting (which was held online due to the coronavirus restrictions).

Mr Parrett said: “Most of the concerns that I raised have been allayed by Mr Desor. Obviously the [legal] notice that was in the press was quite vague, in that it just gave the time of delivery and didn’t describe the size of van and frequency of deliveries.

“My only concern was around the size of the transport that would be used and Mr Desor did refer to a larger delivery that was made quite recently.

“That did involve and 18-wheel articulated lorry, which had to reverse out of the street, causing some sort of public nuisance I would suggest.

“I presume that is what Mr Desor is saying won’t occur in the future, but I think I [wanted] to just put on record that has occurred once. I would very much hope it doesn’t happen again.”

Mr Parrett went on to highlight the concerns of some residents around additional waste being generated by the business.

He also mentioned existing parking issues in the road, but acknowledged it was not a matter for consideration by the licensing panel.

“Other than that I have got no problem with people running a business from home,” Mr Parrett said.

“I’m working from home myself at the moment, it’s quite normal. If someone wants to clog up their utility room with bottles of wine that’s their own lookout and not my problem at all.”

Licensing officers, however, are advising councillors to exercise caution when considering existing parking issues.

In a report considered by councillors, a council licensing officer said: “All of the representations mention parking as an issue for the residents, including one which seeks a guarantee the owner will be able to remove the car from her driveway. 

“The sub-committee are entitled to disregard such comments as they fall outside the remit and responsibility of the licence holder. It is a public highway. Responsibility for parking properly rests with the driver of the vehicle.”

Sussex Police had not raised any objection to the application so long as the business follows the conditions it had offered.

These include a challenge 25 policy and requiring an adult to sign for deliveries. Deliveries would also only be made to a customer’s place of business or home. 

The conditions would also mean that no members of the public will be allowed to access the premises for the purposes of purchasing alcohol.

A decision on the application is expected to be published within the next few days.

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