Bristol store says ‘unfairly blamed’ by police for crime hotspot

A shopkeeper has said his convenience store in Old Market, Bristol is being unfairly blamed by the police for a hotspot of crime and antisocial behaviour.

Local Store, at 42A Old Market Street, has been run for a decade by Vas Anwar, but could soon be taken over by a new owner. Police and trading standards said his shop was selling alcohol to underage teenagers, laughing gas under the counter, and illicit cigarettes.

The shop was linked to more than 100 police reports over the past three years, and police said drunk people were often seen drinking outside. Bristol City Council’s licensing sub-committee has now revoked Mr Anwar’s licence to sell alcohol at the Local.

But Avon and Somerset Police faced questions about their evidence, during the licensing hearing on Thursday, September 22, as well as claims they were misrepresenting statistics. Representatives for Mr Anwar said many police reports came from shop staff phoning 999 and “trying to do the right thing” about issues outside, for which he was now being penalised.

Frequent customers also said the shop is used as a landmark, so many people phoning police might name it as an address, despite the incident potentially having nothing to do with the Local. Other concerns included the impact of a nearby squat, which has now been shut down, but previously caused a huge rise in crime and antisocial behaviour in the area.

Between 2019 and 2022, police recorded more than 100 incidents linked to the Local. According to a police licensing officer, 50 of these were outside the shop, including begging, assaults, and threatening behaviour; and 58 were reported inside the shop, including assaults on staff, assaults by staff, criminal damage and theft. About a third of the incidents were reported to the police directly by shop staff.

Licensing officer Louise Mowbray said: “The squat attracted a large number of the homeless community, who have tended to congregate outside the Local. There is a recurring issue with aggressive, drunk individuals outside the premises, with no attempt to move on or staff being too intimidated to move them on. Reports have described people from the squat purchasing alcohol from the premises, drinking it openly, and residents being scared and unable to sleep.

“There was a fire at the [squat] over a year ago, and as a result of the fire the police secured the premises, restricting access. However, reports still continue to be recorded by the police of aggressive, drunk individuals outside the Local, despite the squat being shut over a year ago. The sheer scale of reports, incidents and ongoing issues is disproportionate to any other licensed premises locally. The premises must take measures to address this.”

Trading standards also found 14,400 cigarettes in a nearby office used as storage for Mr Anwar, which they seized. He told the licensing committee they were for personal use, for him and his family, and were bought duty-free on trips abroad.

Five minutes walk away from the Local is Logos House, a homeless shelter with 92 rooms run by the Salvation Army on Wade Street. Sergeant Maz Collacott-Nuur said many people staying there were drug or alcohol dependent, and often bought alcohol from the shop.

She said: “I have seen people that are just so drunk that they can’t stand up. I’ve seen one guy dragging himself along the pavement. And these people are still there when children are walking past on their way to school. So this has a really big impact on the families who live there, and as a local sergeant I feel almost powerless to support them.”

But Piers Warne, a licensing solicitor representing Mr Anwar, said only six police incidents have been linked to the Local this year. These included a drunk person outside falling over, a scooter theft, staff receiving nuisance phone calls, and a shoplifter assaulting a staff member. Incidents in previous years were also not the fault of the shop’s, he added, but problems rose “exponentially” when the neighbouring building was used as a squat.

He said: “There’s a clear record of them refusing people, trying to do the right thing, calling the police about that, and now it’s being held against them. It just simply doesn’t stack up when you look at these statistics. Three allegations are of assault by staff members against customers who have been refused sales and forcibly ejected — one of them is someone phoning up saying ‘I’ve been wrong-changed and I want the police to come and deal with it’ — but that’s recorded as crime data against the premises.

“You have to be very careful with these statistics, because otherwise you get a completely unclear position. I think this sends a bad message to other premises who would want to do the right thing. There are a lot of premises who hold the view ‘I won’t call the police because if I do it’s going to be held against me’.”

The Local will now likely be sold to a different shopkeeper, who will apply to the council to take on the premises licence. Mr Anwar said he wanted to stop working in his shop, and focus on his health and spending time with his family. But before the sale goes through, he won’t be allowed to sell alcohol.

Councillor Richard Eddy, chairman of the committee, said: “We were not persuaded by the police evidence relating to the linkage of antisocial behaviour with this specific shop. But clearly there have been significant serious failings by [Mr Anwar].”