A READING town centre convenience store is under new ownership, and they have applied for permission to sell alcohol just weeks after the licence was removed.
A hearing on Friday, February 10, saw Reading Borough Council strip the booze licence from Today’s Express in Duke Street, following Thames Valley Police raising concerns. This included an allegation that the previous owner, Quais Aziz, incorrectly selling single cans of alcohol to street drinkers, and mismanaging the store’s CCTV.
At the time, licensing solicitor Bill Donne of Silver Fox Consultants conceded that management of CCTV had been poor but argued other licensing measures, such as displaying an age verification policy, had been adhered to, and that Mr Aziz is free to sell individual drinks cans.
However, councillors disagreed.
The council said last month that on January 19, 2021, its licensing officers visited the premises and found no part of the premises licence could be produced. The licence holder could not demonstrate that staff were authorised to sell alcohol, or indeed that adequate training for staff had taken place.
In two follow-up visits, between January and March 2022, further breaches of licence conditions were identified.
The licence holder did not comply with the condition to maintain accurate time-stamped CCTV recordings of the premises and was unable to provide footage of incidents, when asked to do so, by the police.
Footage that was made available in November and December 2022 showed several instances of alcohol being sold late at night, outside of permitted hours.
The council said that repeated attempts were made by Reading Council and Thames Valley Police over the three-year period to work with the licence holder to improve standards and compliance. Despite a number of opportunities, the premises failed to engage with officers.
Following the decision, Cllr Karen Rowland, Lead Member for Environmental Services and Community Safety, said: “There were efforts to work with the shop over an extended period of time, but they consistently failed to meet our standards which are in place for all shops carrying licensable products.
“This decision was not taken lightly, and the enforcement action taken considered the number of concerning and repeated breaches of the licence conditions.”
The new licensing application submitted to Reading Borough Council is to reinstate permission on the sale of alcohol from 8am to 11pm each day has been submitted, and is from new owners GS Chopra Limited.
According to Companies House, GS Chopra Limited is headed by Gulinder Singh Chopra of West Drayton, London.
Members of the public and interested parties can make a representation about the application by emailing licensing@reading.gov.uk, with the closing date for representations being Sunday, April 2.
Additional reporting: James Aldridge, local democracy reporter
