The owners of a popular restaurant on one of Cornwall’s nine Blue Flag beaches have said if they are allowed to sell alcohol from a kiosk on the beach it will allow them to control antisocial behaviour such as littering of glass and cans.

Cyderhouse Co Ltd – an offshoot of the Healey’s cider business – has applied for a premises licence for the Gylly Beach Shop and Takeaway on Cliff Road, Falmouth, at the entrance to Gyllyngvase beach. The company took over the running of that business and the neighbouring Gylly Beach Café last August.

A Cornwall Council licensing committee meeting heard today (Wednesday, June 5) that Cyderhouse wants to sell pints of Korev beer and Rattler cider alongside ice creams, pasties, coffee and buckets and spades from the beach shop until 10.30pm each night, with conditions agreed by Devon and Cornwall Police.

The council received representations from 15 Falmouth residents who were concerned that the selling of alcohol would exacerbate existing antisocial behaviour problems on the beach – which attracts large groups of young people during the summer – including glass and cans being left on the sand as well as unregulated barbecues and campfires.

One of the letters, opposed to the plan, states: “The beach and the associated area have been the subject of considerable antisocial behaviour in recent years with alcohol as a primary driver. Police cannot cope with the current situations so to increase alcohol-fuelled behaviour could be deemed reckless.”

However, representatives from Healeys and Cyderhouse argued that by ensuring pints are only drunk on 12 benches they own rather than on the beach itself, they will be able to control any unruly behaviour, aided by extra CCTV cameras.

Laura Clerehugh, head of hospitality for Cyderhouse Company Ltd, said by offering the sale of alcohol  it would give the business a “slightly more holistic offering i.e. you’ve got ice cream for the kids, coffee for mum, light lunch for everybody and potentially on a nice sunny evening you can sit and have a pint in the sun”.

Residents of that part of Falmouth have previously aired concerns about a neighbouring Co-op store selling alcohol seven days a week from 6am to 11pm, which is often consumed on the beach leading to antisocial behaviour.

Joe Healey, of Cyderhouse, told the licensing committee: “The Co-op is about 20 metres from the [beach takeaway] building – since its introduction there’s a lot of glass and a lot of cans, and a lot of alcohol, being purchased from the Co-op and being taken straight on to the beach. That is causing issues – it causes litter. There’s an increased amount of campfires on the beach and it’s completely unregulated.

“Our whole principle for this is if we can increase our presence on the beach for longer in that area we can actually remove a lot of the glass, cans and litter.”

Council solicitor Mark Andrews stressed that people may have bought alcohol and food from other supermarkets in the area. “I wouldn’t want Co-op to watch this and feel they are being blamed for all the problems in Falmouth.”

Mr Healey said the beach shop would introduce a deposit scheme on reusable polycarbonate cups. “We feel that will be a real game-changer in terms of littering. Obviously people won’t be allowed to take it onto the beach, we will insist they drink it at the tables. We do believe that with additional CCTV when anti-social behaviour happens it’s not going to take long before people realise this stuff is recorded and can be shared with the police. Hopefully in time it will help reduce the current anti-social behaviour that’s on the beach and not increase it.”

He said it would operate in a similar way to the Watering Hole on Perranporth beach where drinkers are only allowed to consume alcohol on benches directly outside the premises but not on the beach. Anyone wandering off to Gylly beach with a pint would have it removed by staff and would not be served again.

Cllr Rob Nolan said ice cream will be sold alongside beer so “I’m interested on your thoughts about children milling about with people buying alcohol”.

Ms Clerehugh responded: “I would say it’s no different to any other family pub, not that in any way would I describe what we have on the beach as a family pub. It’s like our cider farm which is very well managed and we don’t have any issues with it.”

She added that the success of their two businesses relies on the good reputation of the beach and attracting the right kind of people. “We don’t see those big groups of youths within our café. We will work with Falmouth Town Council for everybody’s greater good as custodians of the beach.”

Ms Clerehugh stressed the business would “hope to deter – I’d like to say reduce – that behaviour we know so many people are concerned about”.

The meeting heard that external CCTV cameras are being erected outside the business on June 10, which already has internal cameras.

Cllr Nolan added that the business was in the cumulative impact zone, which was set up to reduce the likelihood of bad behaviour around licensed premises, “so we don’t have to grant a licence if we think it’s going to add to the amount of alcohol on sale in the area. I think what you’re saying to us is the horse has already bolted on that once we gave the licence to the Co-op”.

Ms Clerehugh replied: “What we’d like to do is put some reins on the horse that’s bolted.”

The issue of the availability of public toilets was raised, with the applicants saying it would not be an issue as toilets on the beach would be open to those buying pints from the shop as well as customer toilets in the neighbouring Gylly Beach Café.

The committee agreed to grant the licence. Members felt it would not have a negative impact on the prevention of public nuisance or crime and disorder, and believed extra CCTV would help deter bad behaviour such as littering on the beach. The councillors noted that many of the problems on the beach were caused by “off sales” of alcohol, which the shop was not offering.