Unilever has put forward a bid to sell alcohol at its new South London headquarters, which opened in spring. The major firm wants to offer alcohol at networking events at Sunlight House, on the new Eden Campus, in Kingston town centre, by winning permission to sell booze from 8am to 11pm every day.
The application was made by Sodexo Limited as part of Unilever’s move from Lever House, on St James Road, to the campus, which is part of a major new development.
Solicitor Christopher Grunert, representing Sodexo, told the hearing alcohol would not be part of daily operations on the site, or on the café menu, as it would only be sold at networking events a few times a month for up to 100 people. He said most of these events would finish much earlier than 11pm.
Mr Grunert added: “St James Road has had 20 years of licensing experience with zero complaints, zero compliance issues and I would include my client’s track record as operating temporary event notices recently for Eden – pending this application.”
Alcohol would only be sold to directors, partners and employees of Unilever, associated companies and guests, along with people invited to private functions on the premises.
The council will publish its decision on the application in the coming days. The first phase of the Eden Campus development saw disused buildings demolished for two office buildings, one 10 storeys and the other eight storeys tall, and a multi-storey car park.
The entire site was set to become Unilever’s global headquarters, but the firm confirmed it would only be moving into the eight-storey building, its new UK and Ireland base, after a review. This opened in spring, while the other block is being sublet.
The council granted outline permission for the second phase of the scheme in 2021, which would have seen a 16-storey apartment block built next to the campus.
But developer Cube Real Estate has since put forward plans to build two taller towers on the site with 272 co-living and affordable homes instead.
The developer is finalising this scheme before submitting an application to the council, which would need to be approved to go ahead.
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