Hearing to be held over new Smethwick restaurant's request for a licence

Sandwell Council’s licensing committee will decide on a premises application for the new Ghanaian restaurant Kotoburaba in Claremont Road, Cape Hill, Smethwick after objections from the region’s emergency services.

West Midlands Police and West Midlands Fire Service had objected to the application by Dorcas Enstie but the grievances have been redacted.

The licensing committee will meet on February 10 to decide on the application. The bar and restaurant opened on Christmas Eve last year according to its social media pages.

A council report published ahead of the meeting said the objections had been lodged over “concerns that the prevention of crime and disorder, public safety, public nuisance and protection of children from harm licensing objectives would be undermined".

West Midlands Police had asked for the restaurant’s closing time to be brought forward to 10pm from the proposed midnight.

The force also asked for the restaurant to withdraw its request to play live and recorded music, to ease concerns it would be used as a “late-night bar".

The force said: “Remove the provision of live and recorded music from the application […] this would mean that if you play low-level background music, this would be fine and is not licensable but the removal of this from the application would potentially allay the concerns about the nature of the venue being almost like a late-night bar.

“No vertical drinking shall take place at the premises, and all alcohol sales will be ancillary to the purchase of food,” West Midlands Police added.

West Midlands Fire Service said it had discussed the licence with the restaurant owner but did not formally remove its objection.