Asda: Street drinkers 'doing poo in car park' could cause headache

The supermarket giant is in the process of taking over the former Euro Garage petrol station in Bath Road, Bournemouth town centre. 

But as part of the conversion, Asda is seeking from BCP Council a licence to sell alcohol from the convenience shop. 

Speaking at a licensing committee meeting, Bournemouth resident Andre Martin said there had been problems caused by street drinkers in the area. 

Andre Martin (Image: BCP Council)

Mr Martin said the car park below his nearby flat has suffered from anti-social problems including drug users, smashed alcohol bottles and needles left on the ground and, in one case, somebody doing a poo. 

He said: “Generally, it’s been a long-term problem and it’s not a nighttime event. The applicant’s focus on changing their application to reduce alcohol consumption at night is totally irrelevant. 

“We get groups of drug users coming in the day and they tend to come in during dodgy weather because it’s sheltered.” 

Asda said it would stock a “limited range” of “the odd bottle of wine and packs of beers” in its petrol station convenience shop. 

Its solicitor Richard Taylor said he accepts Mr Martin’s problems but defended Asda, saying it is a planning and drug issue, not a licensing issue. 

“There are solutions to this but it’s not to refuse a perfectly good application,” he said. 

Richard Taylor (Image: BCP Council)

Mr Taylor added: “The application is to sell a very limited range alongside the existing convenience store goods. The application was originally 24 hours. 

“But we had a number of conversations with Louise Busfield from the police. She highlighted some issues in the area she felt we needed to address. 

“And those are largely the potential problems of street drinking and people coming back from the pub from their night out and being able to access more alcohol. 

“We agreed to restrict the hours down to acceptable hours to police (6am to midnight) and some conditions with the type of drinks that street-drinkers drink.” 

He added in his 20 years acting on behalf of Asda, he has never had to defend a review in front of a council committee. 

“Despite serving millions of customers a week, despite having over a 1,000 stores, Asda’s proud track record is that everything it does promotes the licensing objective,” he said. 

Asda bought Euro Garage in 2023 and in the process of converting the shops into Express convenience stores, including the one in Bath Road. 

A decision on the application is expected to be published later this month.