Sales of alcohol will continue from the former Premier Chorleywood shop after the new owner convinced members of Three Rivers District Council that restrictions he had put in place would cut alcohol-related problems.

The shop in Lower Road will become Yourz Food and Wine from April 10 and new owner Sanny Singh says he wants to work with the community to address the problems that resulted in the council twice reviewing the licence before revoking it altogether earlier this year.

At a licensing meeting on yesterday morning (April 4) Mr Singh and his representative Surendra Panchal agreed to bring the closing time forward to 10pm, install CCTV cameras, introduce Challenge 25 and other initiatives and organise twice-daily litter collections outside the front of the shop.

Mr Panchal, whose company also provides training on the sale of alcohol to the Post Office and Budgens in Chorleywood, said: "Mr Singh is a prominent businessman who has worked in the area for 13 years.

"My client was looking for a business nationwide when he managed to find this business was up for sale.

"Having seen the concern from residents about the business I would like to put down that there will be a Challenge 25 policy in place which will stop the younger generation buying alcohol.

"A full operating schedule will be put in place showing when alcohol will be sold as well as till prompts and there will be regular training with the staff.

"We have spoken to the police and have come to the conclusion that we are going to reduce the opening hours."

Councillors also requested that a beer fridge be re-located further away from the entrance to the shop in an effort to prevent alcohol being shoplifted.

Residents that attended the meeting voiced concerns that the sale of alcohol after 9pm was directly contributing to youths congregating in Lower Road and Berks Hill.

Joyce Cook, of Berks Hill, said: "I have been stopped three or four times in the past couple of years and asked to buy alcohol for people.

"I feel very intimidated by this and I understand residents lives are being made a misery.

"PCSOs do rounds but the problem is late at night after they have gone off duty.

"When I talk to the PCSOs they say they are young people coming from outside the area, if this licensing goes ahead it would be really good if we could have the premises closed down by 9pm."

But Mr Panchal said: "What we are hearing from residents is quite away from the shop and is nothing to do with the application.

"The shop owner will look into it and try to be close to the neighbours but it is difficult at this moment to say yes to that."

The shop has technically never had to stop selling alcohol as after the licence was revoked on January 21 owner Imran Sarwar lodged an appeal, which is still pending, before selling the shop.

A council report said: "It is certainly unusual for an application to be made to licence a premises that is already licensed and there appears to be nothing in the act that prevents it from happening.

"The only reason I can think of, for this to occur, is that it might influence the sale of the business to the prospective owner, i.e. Mr Singh, who probably wants to ensure that a premises licence is in place before he seals the deal to purchase the business."