The owner of a fishmongers and street food bar says people will not be “loitering outside” after gaining permission to sell alcohol until 11pm.

Darren Jenkins has moved his Jenkins & Son business into Deal's former JC Rook & Son unit in the high street, two years after the butchers fell into administration.

He applied to Dover District Council (DDC) for permission to sell drinks until midnight, but his bid sparked two complaints from residents worried about people gathering in the street.

Mr Jenkins addressed the concerns at a meeting of DDC's licensing committee, where members decided to allow him to serve alcohol until 11pm - one hour earlier than initially hoped.

“We are fully focused and committed to not becoming a drinking establishment," Mr Jenkins told the meeting.

“We've only got a small dining area of 24, so we won't have large volumes of people.

“They will be there to eat food and drink. There's no space for people to come in from the streets - I don't think we'll have lots of people loitering."

Jenkins & Son, which has been trading in Deal high street for 80 years, moved into the former Rooks last week.

The premises licence allows staff to sell alcohol on the shop floor and in the 24-cover street food bar and grill.

Under the rules, it can now serve drinks from 12pm to 11pm Tuesday to Saturday and 10am to 4pm on Sunday.

Although hot food will only typically be served from 10.30am to 2.30pm, the additional hours under their new licence will give staff the freedom to hold pop-up events into the later hours.

Currently, plans for the events include sushi nights, where 24 tickets will be available for patrons to fill the restaurant before the doors are closed.

“The alcohol trading for us to be late at night is so we have the flexibility of being able to have a pop-up when we want to and when the weather allows us to," Mr Jenkins added.

“We start at the crack of dawn, we're there at 4.30am, we open at 6.30am, we're closed by 4pm, and that will be the mainstay for 85% of the year. That is our plan.

“But we want to have the flexibility to have a pop-up on a Thursday and a Saturday or a Friday, when we choose to, throughout the summer months.”

For the past 10 months, builders have been carrying out repairs and renovations to the former Rooks store to allow the fishmongers to open.

The ground floor is now split into two sections. One half is a traditional fishmonger and poulterer while the other half houses the street food bar.

“We just want to be able to serve a few oysters and a glass of wine,” Mr Jenkins said.

“We will train all of our staff in managing the sale of alcohol to the general public at the right size where needed.

“Staff will be trained in the ‘Challenge 25’ procedure to identify or ask for ID for anyone that looks under the age of 25.

“We've also installed high-quality CCTV throughout the shop and on the outside.

“It’s covered on every angle and every corner.”

The former home of Jenkins & Son, on the other side of the high street next to Dial A Pizza, is set to be rented out to another business.

Mr Jenkins, a fourth-generation fishmonger who began working at the shop aged 14, says the ex-Rooks building also has sentimental value.

“This was my dad and my grandfather’s dream shop,” he explained.

“They were always jealous of this shop because it was so big.”