Chip shop hopes to stay open until 5am

A chip shop in West Bromwich is hoping to serve late-night revellers food until the early hours of the morning if plans to extend its licence are granted.

Big John's in Carters Green wants to serve food and play music until 5am.

The fast food chain has applied to Sandwell Council for a new premises licence for the takeaway in Dudley Street to provide late-night refreshment from 11pm to 3am from Sunday to Thursday and 11pm to 5am on Friday and Saturday. It also wants to play recorded music during the same times. One objection has already been lodged on the grounds of public nuisance.

Owner Bob Saddique, who runs the chain with his brother John, said they are already successfully trading until 5am at the branch in Lawley Middleway, Birmingham and hope to do the same in West Bromwich after seeing a rise in demand. He said: "We are currently looking at our drive-throughs and have decided there's a lot of demand from people. We've had a certain amount of demand after 11pm where people come in and seem to be let down. People want a variety of different foods at that time which is what we provide." The shop is currently open until midnight.

Mr Saddique added: "There's a queue of cars building up outside when we close so we thought we would put an application in to get it opened." If the plans were approved, Mr Saddique said there would be security patrols of the site to ensure disturbance was kept to a minimum.

"We've had the same procedure in Lawley Middleway where we've put security around monitoring troublesome people," he said. In August the Birmingham-based chain announced a £2million investment in up to 20 new outlets in Wolverhampton, Wednesbury, Dudley and Walsall creating over 100 jobs. The Dudley Street branch was opened last summer. The application will go before the borough's licensing panel on April 24.