The owners of Tilehurst Petrol Station in School Road have applied for an extension of their licience to sell alcohol 24 hours a day. This is not welcome news for Tilehurst residents where none of the existing retailers has a licence to sell alcohol 24 hours a day.

We have gone to a lot of trouble in recent years to tackle anti-social behaviour in Tilehurst, working in partnership with the Neighbourhood Police Team and council officers to make Tilehurst Village a safe place and to avoid creating any new focus where small crowds of people gather late at night to drink their lives away.

There are plenty of alcohol outlets in town and along the Oxford Road that are open 24 hours a day already and we do not need them in Tilehurst.

The licence application is due to be heard by the Licencsing Committee on 22 January.

I will keep you posted.