Shopkeeper bids to sell alcohol over Christmas despite ban

ASHOPKEEPER whose alcohol licence was suspended until January after police accused him of selling drink and tobacco to underage children has applied for a special licence for Christmas.

Chintan Shah, who runs Meadowcroft Express in Swindon, had his drinks licence suspended after a Swindon Borough Council licensing panel meeting on September 23.

The suspension did not come into effect until October 15 in case he appealed.

That means the suspension will run until January 16 meaning Mr Shah will not be able to sell alcohol from the shop over the Christmas period – a significant time of sales.

Mr Shah has applied for a temporary event notice which will allow him to sell drink at the shop from Friday December 23 to Thursday, December 29.

Mr Shah’s application simply lists the dates and times of when he wants the temporary event notice licence for. He will be able to make his case to a three-councillor licensing panel which will sit today.

However, his application will be opposed by Wiltshire Police.

The force’s Swindon licensing officer John Barker wrote to the licensing department: “In support of the original grounds for the review to prevent crime and disorder/protection of children from harm along with the subsequent honourable decision of the licensing committee to suspend the licence for three months, I believe that this stance avoids sending out a mixed message and thereby does not undermine the full and informed decision of the panel which was made with a specific rationale in mind in line with the licensing objectives.”

At the September panel meeting councillors were told there had been instances of under-age youths buying both alcohol and vape products and cigarettes and tobacco from the shop, as well as an increase in anti-social behaviour at the store.

The police alleged that children were working on a casual cash-in-hand basis at the shop.

Before the initial hearing police even made unsubstantiated allegations of sexual exploitation at the shop, but they were not believed by the panel and not backed up by any further evidence by the police.

Wiltshire Police did not respond to a call made by Mr Shah after the licence was suspended to admit that they had made serious but unsubstantiated allegations.

Mr Shah also said that violations of the laws about selling drink and tobacco to children had occurred under a previous management regime.

The three-councillor panel were due to meet at 1pm at the Civic Offices in Swindon.