KFC at 207 Shinfield Road wants to serve until 3am seven nights a week. Council and police want door staff and a dispersal plan; councillors decide 6 October.
The KFC Express at 207 Shinfield Road wants to stay open until 3am every night of the week. At the moment it has to close at 11pm from Sunday to Thursday and at midnight on Fridays and Saturdays. Reading councillors will decide on the application at a hearing next Tuesday, 6 October.
Reading Borough Council’s licensing team and Thames Valley Police both told the council the application “in its current form” could undermine all four licensing objectives. Neither objects to later hours in principle. The council’s public health team and one local resident also responded.
The hearing papers were published on Monday (Licensing Applications Sub-Committee, 6 October 2026).
What the takeaway is asking for
The licence holder is KZ Catering Limited, represented by Poppleston Allen, a firm of licensing solicitors. The application reached the council on 13 August. It asks for:
- opening hours of 11am to 3am, Monday to Sunday
- late night refreshment, meaning hot food served after 11pm, from 11pm to 3am every day
The current licence, in force since 30 August 2019, allows hot food after 11pm for one hour on Fridays and Saturdays only. That is two hours a week. The new hours would make it 28. The licence covers no alcohol and the application does not ask for any (report and appendices).
The operating schedule proposed no new safeguards. The applicant wrote: “Bearing in mind the nature of this variation and those conditions already listed on the Premises Licence, nothing further is required.”
Why the council and the police responded
The police and council licensing representations use near-identical wording. Both quote the council’s own licensing policy, which says at paragraph 6.19: “Late night food outlets are a major contributor to crime and disorder and anti social behaviour within Reading.”
Both say the applicant did not talk to them before applying, which government guidance encourages. And both list what the application left out:
- CCTV improvements
- door supervision
- incident recording
- a dispersal plan for customers leaving
- management of the outside area
- staff training and vulnerability policies
Thames Valley Police’s licensing officer wrote that late-night takeaways “regularly attract persons dispersing from licensed premises” and can become focal points for disorder. Both bodies asked councillors to refuse the application, or grant it only with “a comprehensive package of conditions”.
The council’s public health practitioner took a narrower view. The practitioner marked crime and disorder “not applicable, as no alcohol is proposed to be sold”. But they wanted to know how staff would be kept safe on late shifts and getting home. They suggested regular rest breaks and “subsidised taxi travel or other safe transport arrangements”. They also asked for measures on noise, odours, litter and light, “given the premises’ location within a suburban residential community”.
A local resident wrote to the council in August. They said longer hours would bring more noise and rubbish, with people parking in the side streets, eating in their cars and throwing rubbish out of them.
Ten conditions agreed, seven not
The council and police sent the applicant a list of 17 conditions in August and said they would not object if all 17 were attached to the licence. On 19 September the applicant’s solicitors agreed to ten of them. They told the police and council “we are almost in agreement” and asked for the hearing to be called off. It is still on the agenda.
| Condition | What it requires | Applicant |
|---|---|---|
| 1 and 2 | CCTV recording whenever open, kept 31 days, with signs | Agreed |
| 3 | A written security risk assessment, deciding whether door supervisors are needed, including during Reading Festival | Not agreed |
| 4, 5 and 8 | If door supervisors are used: high-visibility clothing, a register and monthly licence checks | Not agreed |
| 6 | Staff training on conflict, vulnerable people and the licensing objectives | Agreed |
| 7 | No unaccompanied under-18s on the premises after 11pm | Not agreed |
| 9 | An incident register, kept for a year | Agreed |
| 10 and 11 | No noise disturbance; signs asking customers to leave quietly | Agreed |
| 12 | A contact for residents' complaints during opening hours | Agreed |
| 13 | No bin collections between 7pm and 7am | Not agreed |
| 14 | Seating closed from midnight; takeaway and delivery only after that | Agreed |
| 15 | Barriers or bollards to stop groups of cars gathering in the car park, midnight to 3am | Agreed |
| 16 | A written closure and dispersal policy | Not agreed |
| 17 | Delivery bikes and vehicles kept from disturbing neighbours | Agreed |
The solicitors argued against the dispersal policy in particular. “A quick service restaurant that is as small as this is and will operate a delivery only model after midnight doesn’t require a dispersal policy,” they wrote. “It is the nature of the premises that people arrive alone or in a small group, order, receive their food and leave the area.”
The police had already answered that point on 16 September. They welcomed the midnight seating closure and the car park measures. But they said customers collecting orders, waiting for transport or arriving by car “may still cause disturbance to nearby residents”, and asked for all of the conditions.
What happens on 6 October
Three councillors sit on the sub-committee: Councillor Woodward in the chair, with Councillors Gurung and Magon. The meeting starts at 5pm in the Council Chamber at the Civic Centre on Bridge Street. They can:
- grant the hours as applied for
- grant them with changes, such as shorter hours or extra conditions
- refuse the application
The period for representations closed on 10 September, so no new objections can be added now.
The takeaway’s food hygiene record is not in question. The Food Standards Agency lists KFC at 207 Shinfield Road as rated 5, “very good”, at its last inspection on 21 November 2025 (FSA rating).
It is the second contested licence in Reading this week. On Thursday the same sub-committee hears the council and police’s request to revoke the alcohol licence at Kings Food & Wine on Kings Road.
What it means for you
If you live near Shinfield Road in Church ward, this decides whether a takeaway on your street can trade until 3am every night. You cannot add a new objection now, but the hearing is a public meeting and you can attend.
The decision should be sent to everyone involved after the hearing. We will report the outcome.
Have your say