Kingston Council is considering an application made by owner of Carbonite Drinks Ltd. to store drinks within his Kingston residence.
Owner Dai John Hughes made the application in February, expressing an interest in selling alcohol for his business, Carbonite Drinks Ltd.
Hughes decided to setup Carbonite Drinks Ltd. after purchasing barrels of rum from Panama, which is currently being stored in a bonded warehouse in Scotland.
However, the business owner has said that he plans to store the product within his home garage, located in Kingston, and sell the goods online, a requirement stated in Annex 3 of the planning application form.
After receiving the application, the council sent a letter to tenants at 106 addresses within the area, informing them about the proposal.
Residents voiced concerns about the potential for criminality in the area, should the application be approved, at a council meeting in early April.
“During the night, we see teenagers trying to break into doors and garages successfully stealing bicycles,” local resident John Dwyer said.
“Storing expensive alcohol in a garage does not seem like a safe thing to do. It won’t be long before thieves realise it’s worth breaking into,” he added.
Hughes however, said that if he was informed of this news beforehand, he would have reconsidered the proposal.
“If I had been approached by this resident, separate from the council meeting and shown this footage, I would have probably reconsidered.
“I had no idea these things were happening within the area,” he said.
Other locals expressed concern about the proposal and the risk it could increase anti-social behaviour.
“We are very close to social housing and there has been extreme bad behaviour backing onto private property here,” Anette Toms said.
“It’s only a matter of time before they get the idea that there’s a treasure trove just around the garage and they’ll be there,” she added.
Resident Charmane Charmichael said the area already had “innumerable antisocial issues”.
Questions over storage and distribution
If the application is approved, the alcohol will be distributed from a local services site in Richmond. Deliveries will not take place from the residence.
Questions were raised by councillor Andrew Bolton about whether the home garage is a suitable storage place for alcohol.
“Would it not be better to use a local warehouse for this type of activity,” he said.
Charmichael agreed that a local storage unit was more suitable for storing these items.
“I really don’t see why in a purely residential area, with a children’s playground and known issues around crime that have resulted in evictions, the council would facilitate the storage of alcohol, a known issue,” she said.
Despite the concern, owner Hughes said that he planned to store six cases at one time and has taken security measures to ensure that his garage is secured.
“The front of the garage has floodlights and there is another floodlight connected to a ring camera on the shed.
“The garage will have fireproof cabinets to prevent the risk of fire,” he said.
The business owner believes that paying for a storage unit would cost him financially.
He said he has been vilified.
“To store the bottles in a Big Yellow Storage unit will cost around £75 a month which is the profit from selling three bottles a month,” he said.
He added: “To be vilified before anything has begun is difficult for me. I am more than happy to talk to people before they reach out to local councillors and estate agents which I think is very unfair.”
Hughes told the Kingston Courier he was happy with the council meeting as it allowed him to defend himself against the residents and make peace with them.
He said: “I wish all 14 of the residents that complained about my proposal attended the meeting because they’d most likely realise that I wasn’t actually doing what they thought in opening up a bar from my home.”
He added: “The council have demanded that nobody picks up alcohol from my home garage and that’s what I wanted. I have to look after my community regardless of whether I know them or not.”
Councillor Noel Hadjmichael has said that a decision with reasonings will be made within five working days.
