London corner shop loses battle to sell alcohol again

A South West London corner shop in the borough with the ‘highest’ level of hospital admissions for drinking alcohol has lost a battle to sell booze after its licence was stripped last year. It comes after the Metropolitan Police and local licensing authority raised concerns about the plans for Twickenham Local at a hearing on May 23.

The shop at 138-140 Heath Road, Twickenham, had its licence removed following a review by the police, who claimed two young girls had been taken to hospital after allegedly drinking booze from the venue while it was under previous management. The licence was stripped on June 21, 2022.

Mandeep Singh Kalra, 18, since applied for a new licence to sell booze at the shop from 8am to 10pm every day. He told Richmond Council’s licensing committee on May 23 he had no connections to the shop’s previous licence holders.

But the committee decided to reject the application. In a now-published decision, the committee said: “The licensing sub-committee were of the opinion that the applicant lacked the relevant experience necessary to competently run the business and adhere to the number of conditions offered, while observing underage sales taking place in the past.

“The applicant had denied any connection to previous licence holders but during the hearing acknowledged he was the son of the director [of Twickenham Locals Limited] registered [at 138-140 Heath Road] with Companies House [in 2020].”

The committee added “one objector had stated that unless the establishment was under entirely new ownership, unconnected with those who lost their premises licence, they would be concerned that the practice of selling alcohol to children would resume”.

At the meeting on May 23, Tony Hawkes, lead licensing officer, said the previous licence was revoked due to “underage sales occurring at the premises”.

PC Justin Campbell-Harris, police licensing officer, said: “The Metropolitan Police have grave concerns that should a licence be granted to the venue so soon after its revocation that we will see a repeat of last summer’s troubles of ASB [antisocial behaviour] leading once again to large gatherings on Twickenham Green – with youths drinking alcohol, shouting and in general causing disturbance to local residents who want to be able to walk around the green with family and not be subjected or intimidated by groups of intoxicated youths.”

The application offered 42 conditions, including banning previous licence holder Manmit Golati and staff member Chandeep Singh Arora from the premises.

But PC Campbell-Harris raised concerns Mr Golati was still involved in the premises. He said company Chet and Sons Superstore Limited was named as the guarantor for a lease he had been sent for the venue, dated June 2021, and claimed Companies House checks showed Mr Golati “as having considerable control of that company”.

He said: “This raises concerns by the Metropolitan Police that it will only be a matter of time before we start receiving intelligence that youths once again are being sold alcohol from the venue, resulting again in ASB in the area. Police have already evidenced this in the initial review of the venue when two young girls were taken to hospital, one being found unconscious by the green.”

He added: “The younger population under 18 years of age are particularly vulnerable to harms from alcohol in Richmond. Since 2015-2016, Richmond borough has had the highest level of hospital admissions for alcohol out of all London boroughs.

“The latest 2019-2020 rate for Richmond is 33 per 100,000 young persons, which is the highest harm level when compared to nearest neighbour groups, boroughs, and higher than London at 15.4 per 100,000 and England at 30.7 per 100,000 averages.”

Council documents on the licensing hearing for Twickenham Local on June 21, 2022, said: “The sub-committee noted numerous complaints from separate individuals had been made to the police regarding under-age sales taking place at the premises, including from two separate mothers whose under-age daughters had been hospitalised as a result.”

But Mr Kalra said: “The advantage of me being 18 is that I know so much about how other youngsters will try to buy alcohol by acting like they might be over 18.”

Licensing consultant Surendra Panchal, representing the applicant, said the application included many conditions to comply with policy objectives. He said there would be a training manual, refusal book and incident log at the shop, which would operate a challenge 25 policy, CCTV and have posters asking customers to “leave quietly, consider all neighbours”.

He added there would be “no underage sales”, while staff would be trained before starting work and receive refresher training every six months.

The consultant said the premises licence, if granted, would belong to Mr Kalra, who would follow the licensing objectives robustly. He said once the terms of the lease are finished, Mr Golati “has nothing to do with it” and the guarantor is only ensuring the rent will be paid – with no involvement in the running of the premises. He also said solicitors were working on a new lease.

A condition offered by the application said: “No licensable activity is authorised by this licence until the licence holder completes on the lease for the premises and takes possession of the premises.”

Mr Panchal said Mr Kalra had experience in working in off-licences, had obtained his personal licence, was “aware of what has happened in the past”, wanted to create a future for himself in business and should be given a chance.

He said: “At the moment, the shop is running – selling groceries and that. It is not financially sound when today, in this day and age, alcohol is very prominent in any shop where people go to buy a bit of wine or a beer or anything.”

He added: “As far as the licensing objectives are concerned, we have showed you today how well the staff are going to be trained, how well the training manual and everything will be put up by the premises to make sure this is done robustly.”