A shop owner in Mill Hill has been granted a licence to sell alcohol at his newsagent, despite objections from a local councillor.

Police and medical authorities said they had no objections to a licence being granted at Broadway News, in The Broadway, which will now change its name to Broadway News Food and Wine.

Mill Hill Councillor Sury Khatri was among 15 people who wrote letters of objection to the application by shop owner Manmohan Singh.

He said the sale of alcohol would be an “unwelcome and negative step for the area”, but members of Barnet Council’s licensing committee disagreed.

Members approved the application at a meeting in Hendon Town Hall on Thursday morning, saying there was no evidence that the premises, or similar premises in the area, had been a cause for concern.