Firm’s booze delivery service bid

A booze delivery service running as late as 2am is seeking permission to set up in Durham.

Plans lodged with county licensing bosses have asked to be allowed to sell alcohol 24 hours a day every day of the week, with deliveries between 6pm and 2am.

Based from the Crossgate Centre, in Crossgate, Durham City, orders would be made through “a mobile application named Jovi”, with an assurance all sales will be “via the internet only” and “no sales or transactions to be made form the premises itself ”.

The decision to approve or reject the scheme rests with Durham Council Council, but the proposals were debated by the City of Durham Parish Council’s Licensing Committee.

Parish councillors formally objected to the application, citing concerns about public safety and crime, at a meeting in January 2020.

A statement from the panel added: “There is nothing at all to suggest that there will be a limit on the amount of alcohol you can order at any one time.

“So theoretically, one individual could have 100 bottles of vodka delivered within an hour in one order.

“There isn’t anything in the operating schedule to suggest this will be limited.

“If approved in its current form, this will be quite unprecedented in Durham.”

The applicant, named in paperwork as “Jovial Technologies Limited” has promised “alcohol will not be delivered to those characterising drunkenness upon arrival”.

Members of the public have until March 3, to submit any comments to Durham County Council.