A PETROL station in Newport is seeking to sell alcohol around the clock – including on Good Friday and Christmas Day.

Alcohol can currently be bought at Esso on Chepstow Road from 8am and 11pm Monday to Saturday, and between 10am and 10.30pm on Sundays.

Customers can also buy alcohol during limited hours on Good Friday and Christmas Day, but owners MRH now want their licence to apply 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

The applicants have also asked for permission to offer late night refreshment – hot food and drink – between 11pm and 5am every day.

But licensing premises offering late night alcohol and refreshment for large numbers of people can be a potential source of crime and disorder, according to the council.

A report says: “The premises licence holder is required to determine operating schedule conditions specifically to prevent alcohol being drunk on the public highway and in relation to the management of the refusal of sale of alcohol to those persons on foot who are intoxicated.”

Several changes to the premises licence have yet to be agreed between the applicants and Newport City Council licensing officers, with a licensing subcommittee hearing arranged for May 13.

Other proposals include closing the station convenience store’s entrance door between 11pm and 6am, limiting the sale of alcohol between these hours to the night pay window.

Officers have suggested that there should be no sale of single cans of beer, lager or cider, or self-service of spirits except for spirit mixtures.

The licensing authority wants all station staff to be trained to prevent the sale of alcohol to underage customers, with all refusals of sales recorded in a register.