Coventry store’s bid to sell alcohol rejected

A shop has had its alcohol licence refused by Coventry’s licensing committee after hundreds of packets of illegal cigarettes were seized.

The city council received an application for 7 Days Mini Market on March 26 for the sale/supply of alcohol from 9am until 10.30pm seven-days-a-week.

However Trading Standards officers objected after an inspection found 225 packets of illegal cigarettes and six packets of hand-rolling tobacco at the premises.

As a result, Trading Standards officer Andrew Tandy told a council licensing hearing he was “concerned greatly” about the alcohol licence application.

Speaking at the hearing on Monday, May 24, he said: “The first time officers ever visited this premises was the first time of seizures.

“We haven’t had really much cooperation from them regarding information until we questioned their ability to have a premise licence.

“Therefore I am concerned greatly about the suitability of this applicant to hold a licence based on the offences that are likely have been committed from the evidence I have presented.”

The meeting was told Trading Standards officers first made a visit to the premises on 184 Longford Road, Coventry, on March 2 and seized products from behind the counter and various other locations in the premises.

Tandy said they were deemed either counterfeit; failed to display the correct labelling required for the UK market; were not in plain packaging; were unlikely to have been notified to Public Health England for the UK domestic market; and were on sale below a price which accounts for duty and VAT.

A subsequent visit from Trading Standards on March 29 saw an officer purchase cigarettes below the retail price, not in plain packaging, and without the correct labelling, with Tandy stating they were “likely to be counterfeit” – although checks were still on-going with the manufacturer.

A further visit on May 7 found no food registration had been made.

Representatives from 7 Days Mini Market were invited to the hearing by the city council but did not attend.

The alcohol licence application was refused by the committee after an adjournment.