AN Earlston chip shop will be allowed to stay open later at night, despite concerns from neighbours over anti-social behaviour. 

The owners of Alfonso’s, Alfonso and Antonietta Crolla, want to extend the opening hours of their business by 45 minutes on Fridays and Saturdays and by an extra 30 minutes the rest of the week.

However, nearby residents have raised concerns over revellers urinating in the street and vomiting onto windowsills after using the takeaway.  One objector says that patrons of the chip shop urinate on their doorstep, and another said that late night revellers looking for a takeaway have vomited into their plant pots.

A third objector has raised concerns over ‘boy racer’s revving their engines and slamming their car doors after visiting Alfonso’s for a late night meal.

Now, councillors have decided that reports of anti-social behaviour near the premises are not the responsibility of the owners.

At a meeting of Scottish Borders Council’s civic government licensing committee, councillors heard that the business has been licensed since 2007, and no concerns have been raised about Alfonso’s in that time.

Councillors also heard from Mrs Antonietta Crolla, who spoke on behalf of the business.

She said: “I don’t understand the logic of the complainants, as I don’t see how we are to blame for the things they are complaining about.

“People urinating in the street, and the boy racers problem, is not our fault. When they come up for food, they are probably intoxicated. I don’t know if they are saying that it is our food that is making them sick, but the problem arises from people being full of drink, and I’m not sure how we’re to blame for that.

“The objectors live on a main street, I don’t see how that is our fault.  “We pay for the late night catering licence but we don’t actually use it throughout the whole year. We only operate late at night during the summer when there are more tourists and events.

“We also have hundreds of people coming from the hospital, who haven’t had a chance to eat all day, and so if we’re open they can get something.”

Hawick councillor David Paterson told the committee: “I’m looking at the complaints here, and a lot of them should be levelled at the police. If there’s such a big problem here should they not be phoning them?

“To the people saying the civic week and sevens tournament weekend is a living hell, I’d say I live on a main road and a lot of the same things happen at those times of year but it isn’t really that bad.

“I think it’s just people complaining for the sake of complaining.”

Tweeddale East councillor Robin Tatler added: “A lot of these issues should be raised with local councillors. I don’t think these are connected with the running of the chip shop.”

Representatives from Police Scotland also confirmed they had no objection to the opening hours, and confirmed that the antisocial behaviour did not stem from the takeaway.

Currently, the takeaway closes at 11.30pm on Fridays and Saturdays, and at 11pm on other days, and the new opening hours will see the shop’s closing time extended to 12.15am and 11.30pm respectively.

Additionally, the business will stay open until 1am during the Earlston Civic Week and when rugby sevens tournaments are being held.