A convenience store in Lancashire could lose its licence after the owner has been found of repeatedly selling alcohol and cigarettes to underage children, stated recent reports.
Hyndburn Council is set to review the premises licence of Nawaz Food Stores and Off Licence in Edleston Street, Accrington, after joint test purchases between the police and Lancashire Trading Standards foudn that the shopkeeper was selling alcohol to children as young as 14.
According to local reports, in July last year, two 14-year-old female police cadets dressed in civilian clothes, entered Nawaz Food Stores, and one of the girls selected a can of Stella Artois lager, walked to the counter, paid for the can of beer and walked out of the shop unchallenged.
On exiting the shop, the cadets made the police and Trading Standards aware they had been served with alcohol.
Police then entered the shop to challenge the shopkeeper, who denied making any sale and saying he’d served a 30-year-old who must’ve passed the alcohol on to the two girls.
He was warned the transaction had been caught on camera but continued to deny selling the alcohol, claiming the two girls had lied, or stolen it. Finally he conceded when he was shown his own CCTV, and was given a fixed penalty notice.
During a second test purchase operation conducted on Oct 26, two 14-year-old boys entered the shop wearing a covert camera, walked over to the chilled alcohol section, selected a bottle of cider and approached the counter area of the shop.
Again, the same shopkeeper was the only member of staff behind the counter at this time and allowed the boys to buy the cider.
As they neared the exit, he asked the boys if they are over 18, and asked for their ids. The boys told him they had none and he told them to bring next time, stated the reports.
Previous concerns about the shop include an incident from October 2021 which revealed the owner was selling duty free cigarettes and single cigarettes to kids while another report from 2017 stated that the store was selling cigarettes to children as young as nine.
The premises licence is being reviewed in relation to the protection of children from harm and will be brought before the licencing committee next week.
Hyndburn Council said it is an offence to knowingly or recklessly make a false statement in connection with an application, punishable with a maximum fine of £5000 on summary conviction.
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