New Northampton coffee bar awarded alcohol licence

The Tick Tock Coffee and Wine Bar, on Kent Road in St Crispin, wants to become a ‘sophisticated’ venue for adults looking for a social drink. It used to be known as the Little Pickle Bistro.

They had applied for a new premises licence, which would allow them to sell alcohol from noon until 11pm on Mondays to Saturdays, and noon until 10pm on Sundays.

Only one letter of objection had been received, which stated that it would be ‘detrimental’ to the area. But no residents turned out at the licensing hearing this morning (August 8) at The Guildhall, where Tick Tock director Karen Hovland outlined the business plan.

She said: “We believe that based on what people have said that there isn’t anywhere in the area where someone can go and sit down and have a drink. There’s quite a demand for it, and we thought it would be good to offer that service. We want it as a sophisticated wine bar.”

Responding to questions about potential disruption, she added: “There has been some trouble in the area recently, but that has been youths, and we don’t see how that would have any effect. We know all about the Challenge 25 policy, we’re going to have a cut-off point of 7pm for under 18s. So we don’t anticipate any sort of risk of selling alcohol to young people, and we’re not aiming to run something that will cause disruption.”

Councillor Sally Beardsworth, one of two councillors sitting on the panel, told Mrs Hovland: “I’m pleased that you will close early on a Sunday, and the times seen sensible. You seem to be catering for people who want a nice glass of wine.”

The licence was granted subject to conditions suggested by the local police, including a fully working and maintained CCTV system that can be made available to officers, and staff being trained in relation to the sale of alcohol.

Mrs Hovland added: “We’ve been on a licence course and learned about all the objectives and we take it all very seriously.”