A Liverpool convenience store, which was being compared to drug dealers after thousands of pounds worth of illicit vapes were seized from “professionally installed” concealments, is now ordered to close.
MP Food and Wine on Hartsbourne Avenue in Belle Vale has been stripped of its premises licence by Liverpool Council after failing multiple test purchases for illegal vape sales and flouting regular warnings.
Across two visits alone to the shop, members of the authority’s alcohol and tobacco unit obtained around £6,000 worth of contraband stock that had been hidden away and sold to the public despite instructions not to do so.
On one occasion, it was alleged that staff in the shop turned off CCTV cameras to conceal the whereabouts of the forbidden products during a test purchase.
A police officer told the committee how the operators of the business were “blatantly and knowingly” committing offences.
Taking away the licence, councillors told representatives of the business they didn’t think there was anything else they could do given the evidence put before them.
A closure order was secured against the shop from Sefton Magistrates Court on 27 May for the maximum period of three months. It must not reopen any earlier than 27 August.
Michael Hearty, of Liverpool Council’s alcohol and tobacco unit, told a panel of councillors how eight visits were made to the business between December 2024 and May this year following complaints from members of the public.
Hearty added that on multiple occasions, members of staff were found selling illegal vapes which were beyond the capacity limit available in the UK to officers on test purchases.
The officer said that on one occasion, concealed products were removed from under the counter for sale, while a menu of flavour choices was offered to officials when conducting visits.
“It’s clear the management are involved in criminality and it is damaging legitimate businesses operating in the area," Hearty said, adding that the shop’s illegal sales were a draw for anti-social behaviour in the area.
Meanwhile, another store has been ordered to close after it was caught selling illicit vapes, cigarettes and tobacco to the public.
Carls Newsagent, based on Vauxhall Road, was also caught attempting to sell a vape to an underage person who visited the premises as part of a trading standards exercise.
Working with Merseyside Police, Liverpool City Council’s Public Protection team started to investigate the newsagents after suspecting that they were trading illegally.
Two separate inspections by the teams found unregulated vapes and cigarettes hidden under the floor and in the till. The products, which were seized by officers, had an approximate market value of £2,500.
Now, the shop has been told that they must close for two months by Sefton Magistrates Court for breaching trading regulations.
