A city centre takeaway has asked for permission to open until 5am.

The owners of Fireaway Pizza in Angel Street, Worcester, have asked Worcester City Council again if it can extend its opening hours until 5am on Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday every week.

The takeaway currently opens until 1am every day – with hours restricted after a request to open for a further four hours was turned down by the council almost 12 months ago.

Fireaway Pizza opened last August in chaotic scenes with West Mercia Police forced to close the city centre road after a procession of firebreathers and luxury cars met smoke bombs, a DJ and crowds flocking to Angel Street to be one of the first 100 to grab a free pizza.

Worcester News:

Months earlier, the city council had turned down a request by the takeaway to open until 5am after police had raised concerns the late-night hours would fuel trouble in one of the city centre’s worst crime hotspots.

Officers challenged the application saying Angel Place was one of the city’s main anti-social behaviour hotspots at night and allowing another late-night venue to open would only add to a rise in crime, noise, traffic and litter.

According to police, Angel Place and Angel Street were among the six worst spots across south Worcestershire for violent crime and the worst across the same area for anti-social behaviour.

The objection from police came in spite of both neighbouring takeaways Shakeeys and Best Kebab House having 6am and 5am closing times.

However, police did signal last year that officers would be open to reviewing the decision in 12-to-18-months’ time to see if the takeaway opening had led to a rise in crime and anti-social behaviour.

By the time it comes to making a decision, the takeaway in Angel Street will have been open for more than 12 months where it may be given another opportunity to show it could handle opening longer.

“In my opinion, I feel that the proposed times could be varied, this would enable the applicant to demonstrate that the venue can operate effectively to ensure any impact on crime and disorder can be monitored, these could then be reviewed in 12-to-18 months,” the police’s design out crime officer said last year.