Leeds City Council has refused the application for a new Armley liquor store due to the rise of anti-social behaviour in the area.
Last year, powers were put in place to ban street drinking in the area due to ongoing problems with anti-social behaviour. Now, no one in specific areas of Armley is allowed to be in possession of an open container of alcohol.
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The only exception is if they are on licensed premises or residential premises. Any person found to be ignoring the terms of the order, after ignoring repeated warnings could face prosecution which includes a fine or imprisonment for up to six months.
When the ban was first put in place, Cllr Debra Coupar said the council will "simply not tolerate" anti-social behaviour in Armley. But, sadly it seems the legislation has not resolved the problem.
Crime statistics from the Observatory Leeds show that from January of this year alone, there were 8,928 recorded anti-social behaviour incidents in Leeds. And between February 2021, and January 2022, there were just under half a million reports.
The growing problem is leaving residents "scared", and Leeds City Council has been forced to take action. While some businesses shared with Leeds Live the positive changes they are making to make people feel safer in Armley.
On Friday Cllr Alice Smart confirmed that a license application put forward for a new off-license in the area had been declined due to anti-social behaviour being "exacerbated by the high volume of off-licenses in the area".
In a statement she said: "Armley has serious longstanding problems with street drinking and anti-social behaviour. These issues are exacerbated by the high volume of off-licenses in the area.
"As local councillors, we are frequently told by residents that they want to see a reduction in the number of off-licenses in Armley town centre.
"We also know that many residents feel unsafe shopping in Armley because of the prevalence of street drinking, crime, and anti-social behaviour. All of these problems are heightened by the excessive availability of cheap alcohol.
"Having yet another licensed premises in Armley would only intensify these problems and increase the number of people who feel unsafe shopping in Armley."
Sonny, who recently took over Booze Plus in Town Street just a few weeks ago shared how the crimes have been affecting the shop. He said: "Well the thing is I haven't been here long so how it has been recently is all I know.
"I heard that before the shop had a bad reputation due to these kind of issues such as people hanging outside by the back wall. But since we've come in we've been implementing measures to make sure customers feel safe."
He added: "Now customers say they feel comfortable to shop with us at night. We also have got CCTV around the shop now too."
But despite the owner's positive attitude, a group of youths were seen crowding the shop entrance on Friday and heaps of glass was seen on the floor. A shopkeeper, who wishes to remain unnamed, at Best-One in Tong Road shared his thoughts.
He said: "We do get people hanging outside who are around the ages of 13 and 14. Elders often get scared too, but the youths are not violent or anything and they only cause problems on occasion."
A number of businesses in Armley expressed that they "had" to get CCTV after feeling unsafe. The Community Sports Centre and Sri Gurunanak Sikh Temple car park has a large entrance sign which reads "no alcohol and no smoking", with "CCTV in operation".
Meanwhile the leader of the church at Bethel Free Church in Fourteenth Avenue shared the number of disturbances that have affected the church. She said: "We've had quite the problem here.
"We used to have an evening service but sadly we had to call it off after it continued to get disturbed. It is a shame really.
"And we also have had a number of window breakages as well. We simply have got tired of having to change the windows."
Uber driver Biniam, who lives in Leeds with his finacé said: “There’s a lot of homeless people in Armley so with that I've noticed a lot of bad behaviour. But it’s nowhere near as bad as Harehills.
"My mum and 11-year-old sister live there and she sees knives all the time - it’s so bad. You just want to tell these kids to knock it off.”
