Hooliganism off-sales claims rejected by Licencing Board

Against local opposition, it has granted permission for the new Nisa store in the Westport to sell drink along with groceries, creating 20 new jobs.

The off-sales application by veteran local licensed grocer Wilson Rea for his new shop adjoining the Shell filling station attracted 12 formal objections.

They included one from St Nicholas Church minister the Rev Alison Meikle and two from existing Lanark off-licence operators.

Of the dozen who made written objections, four turned up at the meeting.

The first to speak was Mrs Marie Darroch, of Westport, who said she was summing up the feelings of people in the area by saying of the new off-sales: “We don’t want it and we don’t need it.”

She said the residential area would suffer undue disturbance from early morning deliveries to closing time, late at night.

Other objectors claimed the shop would become a gathering point for unruly youths with a resulting rise in anti-social behaviour and crime.