Reading's licensing team has applied to review the licence of Kings Food and Wine on Kings Road, citing repeated breaches. Residents can comment until 3 September; two late-night takeaway bids close on 9 September.

Reading Borough Council’s own licensing team has applied to review the premises licence of Kings Food and Wine, 91-93 Kings Road, and anyone who lives or works nearby has until 3 September 2026 to tell the council what they think.

The application appears on the council’s current premises licence applications register, updated on 14 August. In the council’s own words, the Licensing Team applied “on the grounds that the operation of the premises is undermining the licensing objectives”, and the application “follows repeated breaches of licence conditions and ongoing concerns regarding the management of the premises, despite advice, inspections and opportunities to improve”. The register lists the review as received on 6 August 2026, with representations open until 3 September.

The register records the application, not the outcome. Nothing has been decided, the shop keeps its licence while the review runs, and the licence holder has the right to respond to the application and to be heard before councillors decide anything.

What a licence review can lead to

A review is the formal route for challenging an existing licence rather than a new one. Since 2012 the licensing authority has been able to bring a review itself, as it has here, rather than waiting for the police, environmental health or a resident to do so.

Once the 28-day representation period closes on 3 September, the Licensing Act 2003 (Hearings) Regulations require a hearing to be held within 20 working days, which points to a Licensing Applications Sub-Committee date in September or early October. Reading’s sub-committee sits often; its meetings list already shows sittings on 18 and 20 August, and the Kings Road review will be added once the paperwork is in.

At the hearing, section 52 of the Licensing Act 2003 lets councillors leave the licence as it is or take one of five steps: modify its conditions, remove a licensable activity such as alcohol sales, remove the designated premises supervisor, suspend the licence for up to three months, or revoke it altogether. Both the licence holder and anyone who made a representation can appeal the decision to the magistrates’ court within 21 days.

Two takeaways want to serve hot food until the small hours

The same register carries two new applications, both received on 12 August and both open for comment until 9 September 2026:

  • Shah’s Halal Food Reading, 33 Oxford Road (RG1 7QG) has applied for a premises licence for late night refreshment, Monday to Sunday, 11pm to 2am.
  • Jollibee, 81 Broad Street (RG1 2AP) has applied for a premises licence for late night refreshment, Monday to Sunday, 11pm to 3am. The Filipino chicken chain’s Reading branch currently advertises opening hours of 9am to 11pm every day on its own site, so this is a bid to keep the kitchen going four hours later.

“Late night refreshment” is the licensing term for selling hot food or hot drink to the public between 11pm and 5am, and it needs a licence in the same way alcohol does. Neither of these applications involves alcohol.

A fourth item on the register, The Biryani Lounge at 89 Wokingham Road, is asking for late night refreshment until 4am Monday to Saturday; its window closes on 18 August, so there are only two days left to comment on that one.

Timeline of Reading licensing deadlines: Kings Food and Wine review received 6 August, comments close 3 September; Shah's Halal Food and Jollibee applications received 12 August, comments close 9 September; hearing on the review within 20 working days of 3 September
The dates that matter for the three applications. Graphic by Reading Daily.

What it means for you

If you live near Kings Road, Oxford Road or Broad Street, this is your window. A representation only counts if it is in writing, gives your full name and address, and relates to at least one of the four licensing objectives: preventing crime and disorder, public safety, preventing public nuisance, and protecting children from harm. The council’s representation guidance says representations must be evidence-based and that anything “frivolous, vexatious or repetitive” will be rejected, so specifics carry weight: dates, times, what happened.

Your name goes to the applicant. The council supplies a copy of every representation, including the personal details on it, to the applicant. It says it will consider withholding details where someone fears intimidation, but you have to ask at the time, and councillors and officers will still see them.

How to do it. Email licensing@reading.gov.uk using the council’s representation form, or arrange to read the full application at the Civic Centre on 0118 937 3762. Representations in support are just as valid as objections; a takeaway that wants to open late can be backed by the shift workers who would use it.

If you make a valid representation, you get a hearing. The council’s rule is simple: a valid objection leads to a hearing of the Licensing Applications Sub-Committee, and you are invited to speak. Agendas and reports appear on the council’s meetings pages about a week before each sitting, so that is where the review report on Kings Food and Wine, and any decision, will first be published.

We will report the outcome of the review from the sub-committee’s decision notice once it is published. If you park near any of these premises, our Reading parking guide covers the town centre restrictions, and applications to change buildings rather than licences go through the separate planning register.