Fawdon shop wins back licence

A shop that police previously warned was selling alcohol to children has won back its licence.

Councillors in Newcastle have agreed to let the former Fawdon Wine Centre serve booze once again after it was taken under new management.

In 2020, the Fawdon Park Road site’s former bosses were accused by Northumbria Police of repeatedly selling vodka, wine, and other drinks to teenagers as young as 13.

It has been claimed that the store was a magnet for anti-social behaviour and caused “absolute misery” for locals, as youngsters flocked to the shop using the Metro.

But, after changing hands last summer, the Lifestyle Express-branded shop has successfully convinced city authorities to it grant a new alcohol sales licence.

Solicitor Matt Foster told a Newcastle City Council licensing hearing last week that new operators Gurmit and Kuljit Singh had five decades of combined experience running convenience stores and that the site’s troubled history was “nothing to do with this premises and this operation”.

Members of the council’s licensing sub-committee have now approved a new licence for the shop, now known as the SMG Supermarket, but with strict conditions attached.

The licence will only run for an initial 12 months, a measure requested by the police, and bans four people involved in the former Wine Centre business from playing any role in the new operation.

The committee said that the “comprehensive” restrictions that the store will be subject to meant that the council’s licensing objectives would not be undermined.

Several neighbours had objected to the proposal, fearing that it could spark a return to the anti-social behaviour that plagued them in the past.

The area’s three Lib Dem councillors had also opposed the scheme, saying that since the store’s previous licence was surrendered residents have “felt much safer in their own homes and outside in the street”.

Mr Foster argued that those concerns were based on “fear” rather than any actual problems with the new management, saying: “It is not an issue with the area, it was an issue with a bad operator in the area. What we would expect is that a good operator would not impact in the way in which it is feared.”

He said the store had collected 140 letters of support from locals, including testimony that there had been “no funny business” with the new managers and that they were “very professional”.