Tesco wants the Budgens at Avenue Parade open 6am to midnight. Twenty-three residents have objected, and the licensing hearing is at 10am on Wednesday.

Update, 17 September 2026: the sub-committee granted the licence on 16 September with the hours set out below. Read the decision and the reasons.

Tesco is applying for a premises licence at 6-7 Avenue Parade, Sunbury-on-Thames, the shop currently trading as Budgens, and wants to open it from 6am to midnight, seven days a week. Twenty-three residents have objected. Spelthorne Borough Council’s Licensing Sub-Committee decides the application at 10am on Wednesday 16 September.

The unit is a small supermarket and off licence in a local parade, and the council’s own report describes it as “surrounded by residential flats and houses above and opposite”. That is the heart of the objection: the hours being asked for are town-centre hours in a residential street.

What is being asked for, and what has already been given up

Tesco Stores Ltd applied on 21 July 2026. The original application was for opening and alcohol sales from 06.00 to 00.00 every day, plus late night refreshment between 23.00 and 00.00.

The council’s licensing team then asked Tesco to pull the terminal hour back “to bring it in line with other licensed premises within the vicinity”, and the company agreed. The application now before the sub-committee is:

  • Sale of alcohol, 06.00 to 23.00, Monday to Sunday.
  • Late night refreshment removed. The report notes the practical effect: the coffee machine goes off at 23.00.
  • Opening hours, 06.00 to 00.00, Monday to Sunday. This has not moved.

So the shop would still be open until midnight. It just could not sell alcohol or hot food in the last hour.

Avenue Parade, Sunbury: the hours now, the hours Tesco first asked for and the hours it is asking for on Wednesday Three bars per row. The shop currently opens 7am to 9pm Monday to Saturday and 8am to 9pm on Sunday, and sells alcohol 8am to 11pm Monday to Saturday and 10am to 10.30pm on Sunday. Tesco first applied for opening and alcohol from 6am to midnight every day. After talks with the licensing team it reduced the alcohol hours to 6am to 11pm every day and dropped late night refreshment, but kept opening hours of 6am to midnight. Three hours later at night, and alcohol from 6am 6-7 Avenue Parade, Sunbury-on-Thames. Each bar runs from 6am on the left to midnight on the right. 6am 9am noon 3pm 6pm 9pm midnight Now: opening, Mon to Sat 7am to 9pm Now: alcohol, Mon to Sat 8am to 11pm Now: alcohol, Sunday 10am to 10.30pm First asked: opening and alcohol 6am to midnight, every day Now asks: alcohol, every day 6am to 11pm Now asks: opening, every day 6am to midnight 23 residents objected. No responsible authority did. Late night refreshment, 11pm to midnight, was dropped from the application: the coffee machine goes off at 11pm. Sunbury East ward. The sub-committee sits at 10am on Wednesday 16 September. Source: Spelthorne Borough Council, report of the Deputy Chief Executive to the Licensing Sub-Committee of 16 September 2026. Graphic by Staines Online.
The shop can already sell alcohol until 11pm on a weekday. The change people will notice is the door staying open until midnight.

How that compares with the shop as it is now

The premises has been a licensed convenience store for years. The previous licence holder was B Best Limited, following a transfer in 2006, and the current permissions are:

  • Alcohol: Monday to Saturday 08.00 to 23.00, Sunday 10.00 to 22.30.
  • Opening: Monday to Saturday 07.00 to 21.00, Sunday 08.00 to 21.00.

Read those side by side and the shape of the change is clear. The late alcohol hour is barely moving on a weekday: 23.00 now, 23.00 under the new licence. What changes is Sunday, where alcohol would start four hours earlier and finish half an hour later, and the door, which would stay open three hours longer every night of the week.

The objections

Twenty-three valid representations were received from residents. No responsible authority objected, which means neither Surrey Police, nor environmental health, nor the fire service, nor trading standards, nor the child protection lead put in a representation against the application. That matters, because a licensing sub-committee weighs police evidence heavily.

The council’s report groups the residents’ grounds under the four licensing objectives.

  • Crime and disorder. That later alcohol sales could draw people once nearby pubs have closed, with drinkers congregating outside the store and in Orchard Meadow and its car park, and concerns about public drinking, vandalism, littering and drink-driving.
  • Public safety. Groups gathering outside the shop, and more vehicle movements, congestion and parking pressure in a residential area.
  • Public nuisance. That the hours are wrong for a quiet residential street, given nearby pubs close at 23.00 and the existing shop closes at 21.00, with noise from customers arriving and leaving and from early or late deliveries.
  • Protection of children from harm. That more alcohol availability and the risk of groups gathering nearby would make the area less suitable for families.

Two of those arguments cannot legally be heard

This is the part worth knowing before Wednesday, and it is set out plainly in the council’s own report. The sub-committee is told that two categories of objection are not relevant to the licensing objectives and cannot be taken into account:

  • objections on the basis of need, or lack of need, for a shop selling alcohol
  • parking, or other issues of general amenity rather than the licensing objectives

Parking appears in the residents’ representations. It cannot be part of the decision. If you are planning to speak on Wednesday, that is the difference between an argument that counts and one that does not.

There is a second, harder test in the report. Because this is a new licence rather than a review of a problem premises, the representations cannot point to observed problems at the shop. The report tells members that in that situation they “should be convinced that there is a very real threat of the fears or the dangers described in the representations actually occurring” before attaching conditions to address them.

The conditions already agreed

Whatever the sub-committee decides on hours, a set of 15 replacement conditions has already been negotiated between the council’s licensing team and Tesco, and would be attached if the licence is granted. They include:

  • CCTV covering the licensable area, capable of a head and shoulders image of anyone entering, with recordings kept at least 31 days and produced to responsible authorities on request.
  • A written authorisation for every member of staff who sells alcohol, training before they sell and refresher training every 12 months, with records kept.
  • A Challenge 25 scheme, with posters at the entrance, behind the till and on the alcohol shelves.
  • A refusals policy covering anyone who is drunk, cannot produce valid ID, is abusive, or appears to be buying for someone who is drunk or underage.
  • An incident log recording anything of a criminal or anti-social nature witnessed or reported, plus complaints, open to inspection by council officers.
  • A notice asking customers to leave quietly.
  • A Challenge 25 check at the point of delivery for online orders containing alcohol.

That last one matters here. The application describes home delivery as part of the operation, so alcohol bought from this shop will not all be carried out of the door.

What it means for you

  • The hearing is at 10am on Wednesday 16 September, at the council offices at Knowle Green, Staines. The sub-committee’s first job is to elect a chair, so it is not yet constituted. Anyone who made a representation can attend and speak.
  • The window to object has closed. Representations had to be in within 28 days of the 21 July application. The notice was displayed at the premises on 22 July and advertised in the Surrey Advertiser on 31 July.
  • If you already objected, the council should have written to you about the reduced hours. The report says residents who had put in a representation were contacted when the application was amended and republished.
  • Speak to the licensing objectives, not to need or parking. Those two are expressly outside what the sub-committee can consider.
  • The sub-committee has three options: grant it as applied for, grant it with modified conditions, or reject the whole or part of it. It must give reasons for whatever it decides.

The shop is in Sunbury East ward, about four and a half miles east of Staines town centre.

Frequently asked questions

Is the Budgens at Avenue Parade becoming a Tesco?

Tesco Stores Ltd has applied for a new premises licence at 6-7 Avenue Parade and the council’s report says the unit “will continue to operate as a convenience store, including the sale of alcohol for consumption off the premises”. The licence is the only part of that before the council. A change of shop fascia is not something a licensing sub-committee decides.

What hours is Tesco asking for at Avenue Parade?

Opening from 06.00 to 00.00 seven days a week, and sale of alcohol from 06.00 to 23.00 seven days a week. The original application also asked for alcohol until midnight and for late night refreshment from 23.00 to 00.00. Both were dropped after the council’s licensing team asked for the terminal hour to match other licensed premises nearby.

How many people objected?

Twenty-three valid representations were received from residents. No responsible authority, including the police, made a representation.

When and where is the hearing?

10am on Wednesday 16 September 2026, at the Council Offices, Knowle Green, Staines-upon-Thames. The sub-committee elects a chair as its first item.

Sources

  • Spelthorne Borough Council, agenda for the Licensing Sub-Committee of Wednesday 16 September 2026, for the meeting, the item and the appendices.
  • Report of the Deputy Chief Executive, “Application for a new Premises Licence Tesco Express, 6-7 Avenue Parade, Sunbury-on-Thames, TW16 5HS”, for the applicant, the hours applied for, the amended hours, the previous licence, the 23 representations, the summarised grounds, the irrelevant grounds and the options open to the sub-committee.
  • Appendix D to that report, for the 15 replacement conditions agreed between the council’s licensing team and Tesco.