Coffee chain Starbucks has been given a 24-hour licence for a new branch on the edge of Perth, despite warnings it goes against council policy.
Perth and Kinross councillors unanimously approved the late-hours catering licence for the £1 million development, which will include a new cafe and drive-through at Inveralmond East.
Licensing officers had warned that the coffee giant’s opening hours – 24 hours a day, 365 days a year – went against the local authority’s policy, which only allows opening until 1am.
However, Sean Geddes, managing director of Go Americano, the Starbucks licencee, made a representation to Perth and Kinross council’s licensing committee on Thursday, arguing that the application made sense for road safety reasons.
He said: “We feel that Inveralmond leads on to one of the most tedious roads to drive on and I personally would much rather drive on it with a coffee in hand.
“There is already a coffee machine in the nearby BP garage but it’s good to have a proper coffee made in an established and popular coffee shop such as Starbucks.
“There are no residential areas nearby so there would be no negative effect on residents.”
The new cafe, granted planning permission in April last year, is already half-built.
Earlier this year Starbucks started advertising a number of night shift jobs, including a supervisor, for shifts between 10pm and 6am.
When the cafe was given the green light, it was hailed as the starting point for a major economic boom for the city, combined with a new Arnold Clark showroom announced at the same time.
The developments fill an empty site on the city’s northern gateway, in advance of the creation of the Cross Tay Link Road, which will open up land for housing and business.
A similar Starbucks drive-through is also set to open at Dundee’s Kingsway West retail park at the end of June, creating 25 new jobs.
