Taco Bell restaurant in Newcastle wins licensing hours appeal
Operator QFM Group expects to move to add to the city’s night-time economy.
A Taco Bell restaurant in Newcastle, Grainger Street, has won a licensing appeal, allowing the venue to provide eat-in and click and collect services until 3am and delivery until 5am.
The appellant was Jennifer Baines, head of operations for the QFM Group, the operator that has oversight on the 77-seat restaurant.
An original license was granted by Newcastle Licensing Authority on 22 October 2018 which
permitted the venue to serve food until midnight. On 20 March 2020, an application was submitted to alter the existing licence restrictions, seeking to extend the closing hours to 5am daily but did not adjust any other conditions or the permitted alcohol sale hours.
The application received objections from the Licensing Authority, Northumbria Police and Newcastle City Council’s Environmental Health service.
The application was then revised to consider a new 3:30am closing time rather than the initial 5am and was considered by the sub-committee on 7 July 2020 but the outcome resulted in the licence only being extended to 1am.
QFM eventually put forward an appeal which then resulted with the current guidelines.
“I am delighted with the outcome and pleased a compromise could be found. As a company we take very seriously our responsibilities to promote the Licensing Objectives, every day. I am really excited about the extended service we can now offer to our Newcastle customers and believe we will assist in the further positive diversification to Newcastle’s night-time economy,” Baines said in a statement sent by John Gaunt & Partners, which aided them through their original application and latest appeal.
