Mystery over drinks sales for Reading sushi takeaway

You Me Sushi opened at 150 Friar Street in 2022, and has been serving sushi, hot dishes, poke bowls and soft drinks to customers ever since.

But its future appears to be uncertain, as an application to sell alcohol from the building has been submitted by a neighbouring business.

Pal Singh Chopra, the owner of Reading Food & Wine, has applied to sell alcohol off the premises from 7am to 11pm each day of the week.

It is unclear what will happen to You Me Sushi if a licence to sell alcohol is granted to Mr Singh Chopra.

READ MORE: Reading Food & Wine store building to be demolished to make way for destination area and hotel rooms 

Theoretically, an alcohol licence for 150 Friar Street would allow You Me Sushi to sell alcohol alongside the food and soft drinks it already provides to customers.

One of the business partners that runs You Me Sushi said that they are looking into ways of improving their business, which includes selling alcohol and making it more of a restaurant rather than a takeaway.

You Me Sushi already has a number of tables and seats for customers who want to stop by and eat.

Meanwhile, Mr Singh Chopra explained that he applied for the licence to facilitate relocating Reading Food & Wine from 146 Friar Street to 150 Friar Street.

Mr Singh Chopra said: “I have had five years running the business with no problems, nothing. We do not sell alcohol to people unless they are old enough, we have CCTV cameras in my shop and the whole time I keep the recordings.”

Reading Food & Wine at 146 Friar Street, Reading, which is set to be demolished and replaced with a courtyard and apart-hotel rooms. Credit: James Aldridge, Local Democracy Reporting Service

The application to sell alcohol at 150 Friar Street has been submitted to Reading Borough Council’s licensing department.

People are free to comment on the application, with the closing date for representations being Thursday, December 14.

Mr Singh Chopra is currently able to sell alcohol from Reading Food & Wine from 8am to midnight Monday to Saturday and 8am to 11pm on Sundays.

The rear of the building it occupies, 146 Friar Street, is set to be demolished to make way for the QVS1+ and QVS2 development, which involves transforming the junction of Queen Victoria Street and Friar Street to provide new retail space, apartment-hotel rooms and a 163 bed Leonardo brand hotel. 

A plan for the required demolition works (reference 231223) was submitted in September and approved by the council’s planning department on Thursday, November 30.