It’s all over: Happy Chippy loses late night licence

Owners of infamous takeaway Happy Chippy have lost their appeal to sell fast food between 11pm and 4am.

Frequenters of Powerhouse and Digital will now have to tragically venture elsewhere in search of late night essentials.

In November last year, Newcastle City Council’s licensing committee ruled no hot food could be sold late at night due to concerns raised about the takeaway selling illicit substances.

And the owner’s appeal was dismissed on Tuesday at Newcastle Magistrates Court by District Judge Earl.

It’s famous alright

Superintendent Bruce Story explained the closure “helps to reduce crime and disorder taking place in the city centre”.

He said: “Our main concern was around public safety and the risk to people who were buying so called legal highs from there.

“On occasions these substances were being sold from the shop as unmarked tablets, with no packaging, no safety advice or any information to tell someone what they were or what was in them.

“This is incredibly dangerous and led to at least one person ending up in hospital.”

RIP

Police carried out a test purchase at the chippy in February 2014, where children were able to buy an unmarked tablet and a bottled substance. The tablet was sold as the legal high known as “Dove”.

A police search of the premises found a stockpile of legal highs.

The Happy Chippy’s owners have previously been taken to court for selling Class A drugs in 2003. In 2004 they were let off for mistakenly selling magic mushrooms after arguing they didn’t know it was illegal.

Read our report of a customer being offered ecstasy in the Happy Chippy from earlier last year.