Online retail giant Amazon wants to open a high-tech ‘Fresh’ store at the Mall in Upper Street

AMAZON’S bid to set up a flagship store in Angel – powered by “deep-learning algorithms” – suffered a setback this week amid accusations of secrecy.

The online retail giant was finally revealed as the mysterious company seeking to open a supermarket at The Mall in Upper Street after its name was not included in the original licensing application to the Town Hall.

The store is set to operate without staff scanning items on tills. Instead, customers will have to log in to an app which opens an automatic gate into the store and allows them to simply pick up their items and then walk out.

The price of the food and goods is automatically charged from the customer’s Amazon account using “computer vision, deep-learning algorithms and sensor fusion” technology.

The original application for a licence to sell alcohol between 8am and 11pm was made by an “offshore” company called the British Overseas Bank Nominees LTD, according to council officers. It only became apparent that Amazon could be moving in after the closing date for representations.

Amazon lawyer Gary Grant

At a meeting of the licensing committee on Tuesday, Labour councillor Phil Graham said: “Bearing in mind the manner in which this has all been presented to the responsible authorities and licensing team, as well as the police, the fact it seems to have been presented in an underhanded manner, I think proceeding at this time may be to the detriment of our licensing policy.”

He added: “Proposals arriving in dribs and drabs, as and when an applicant sees fit, and after conditions are agreed, is not a good way of doing business.

“I am surprised that a company the size of Amazon, with fingers in many pies all over the world, would act like this.”

Councillor Nick Wayne, who chaired the meeting, halted it at that point to take legal advice.

When councillors returned, legal representatives advised that the authorities could adjourn under regulation 12 of the Licensing Act 2003.

Amazon’s lawyer Gary Grant objected to this proposal.

He said: “We would invite you to hear this application now because an adjournment would serve no purpose other than to delay, which would serve no one’s benefit.”

Councillor Paul Convery

Mr Grant argued that nothing in the application had been changed since it was first submitted in December 2020 other than the name of the store, adding: “There has been no attempt to mislead anyone and nobody has been misled.”

The store will be called “Amazon Fresh”. In the United States, similar stores are called “Amazon Go”.

Mr Grant said that the reason the name “Amazon Fresh” was not revealed earlier was that the “concept” had not been launched in the UK yet and it was subject to “commercial confidentiality clauses”.

Councillor Paul Convery asked: “To what extent were the police told, not the name of the operator, but the format of the store, which is unconventional format.

“It has no traditional checkouts or security lines that we are familiar with. That is the difference between it being Tesco, Asda, Sainsbury’s or Amazon Fresh.”

Mr Grant responded by saying it was “far more secure than other stores” as individuals cannot “just wander in off the streets without supervision”.

Cllr Convery responded, saying: “I am not concerned about who could get in, I would be concerned about who can get out and under what circumstances.

“And I hope the police might be concerned as well.”

The councillors unanimously agreed to adjourn the meeting until May 5.