A FITNESS centre in Chard will not be able to serve food and alcohol during the town’s annual carnival after police and councillors stepped in.

Phoenix Fitness, which is based on Fore Street, applied to cater for up to 100 people in its car park during the procession on Saturday evening (October 13).

A licensing hearing took place in Yeovil on Thursday afternoon (October 11) after Avon and Somerset Constabulary raised an objection, citing a lack of information.

Following a brief hearing, South Somerset District Council rejected the business’s request, meaning it will not be able to provide refreshments at the event.

This comes just over two weeks after the same authority allowed a pub on Chard’s high street to remain open until 5am on the same night.

Simon Troy Mainwaring of Phoenix Fitness originally applied to serve food and drink between 5pm and 11pm on the night of the carnival.

But in a written statement, which was read out to the licensing sub-committee, he said: “We would be shut by 10pm and would be using plastic glasses.”

The fitness centre does not currently have a premises licence – meaning the council had to either permit or refuse the event, rather than alter conditions of any existing licence.

Nicola King, the police’s licensing officer, said that attempts to contact Mr Mainwaring had not satisfied their concerns about the event.

She said: “We haven’t been provided with any additional information or answer to the questions we put forward. There’s not enough details provided and the plan provided is unacceptable.”

She added Chard had four supermarkets and nine other licensed premises on the carnival route which could provide food and alcohol on the night in question.

This includes the Phoenix Hotel on Fore Street, which councillors agreed could stay open until 5am following a separate hearing on October 2.

After less than ten minutes of deliberation, the committee – chaired by Councillor Crispin Raikes – announced that it had rejected the planned event  from going ahead on the grounds of “insufficient detail” on the part of Mr Mainwaring.

Chard’s children’s carnival takes place on Saturday (October 13) at noon, with the main procession beginning at 7:30pm.