Birmingham shop’s new bid for licence fails

A company has failed in its bid to restore an alcohol licence at a newsagents which had its licence revoked last month following under-age sales.

A1 Broadnews & Convenience Store applied for a new licence at a shop in Broadstone Road, Yardley, earlier this year while the previous licence held was being reviewed.

The shop had its licence revoked last month, and in a licensing sub-committee meeting last week, councillors heard there was a “clear link” between the current applicants and previous licence holders.

The shop was previously licensed under the name Yardley Cut Price, but lost its licence after the city council’s Trading Standards team witnessed staff sell booze to a 15-year-old volunteer in February.

A licensing hearing last week heard the director of the new company is Mir Awais Khan, who police believe was a manager of the premises under Abdullah Khan, prior to the new application.

Also, the new proposed designated premises supervisor Adil Sadiq had himself once been the licence holder for the shop previously, the committee heard.

The sub-committee has now ruled the licence application is refused.

The decision states: “The sub-committee’s reasons for refusing this application for a premises licence are due to concerns expressed by West Midlands Police, by Trading Standards and by Licensing Enforcement regarding the close connection between those making the new application and the previous licence holder.”

The committee made reference to a point attributed to the business’ legal representative, which was that the shop served the community – particularly during the pandemic.

But the committee said: “The sub-committee would ordinarily have wholeheartedly accepted this, but the issue was the suitability of the operators.

“Both Mr Sadiq and Mr Awais Khan had been management under the previous unsatisfactory licence holder, and the connections between the two of them and Mr Abdullah Khan were too close for the new operation to truly be a separate professionally-run business.

“As such, the sub-committee did not have any confidence in them to take on a new licence, to trade responsibly, or to uphold the licensing objectives.”