Manchester store’s licence under scrutiny after illegal cigarette haul

A convenience store in Levenshulme will have its licence reviewed after 3,400 illegal cigarettes were discovered at the premises.

Several stashes of counterfeit cigarettes were hidden behind the counter, inside tubs of sweets and underneath the till at California Wines.

Manchester’s trading standards team also seized two kilograms of illicit hand rolling tobacco during separate enforcement visits in January and March 2020.

Concerns were also raised about safety after electrical bare wires – including live wires – were found protruding from the walls inside the shop.

The shop assistant told officers that the owner was not Amer Saleem, the premises licence holder and designated premises supervisor (DPS).

Alcohol was also being sold while Saleem was out of the country, meaning that it had been operating under a new licensee without permission.

No alcohol has been sold from the shop, which has since rebranced as RS Grocers, since March 16 this year following another inspection.

The new owner of the business had told officers that Saleem was intending to appoint him as the new DPS.

But the council says no such application has been made, prompting a review of the licence which allows the shop to sell alcohol from 8am to 11pm seven days a week.

A report says: “Trading standards are concerned that the business owner, premises licence holder and DPS have no control over the business and there is an absence of any duty of care and disregard for promoting any of the licensing objectives.”

Following the initial inspections Manchester council made several attempts to Saleem to no avail, though he resurfaced in May this year.

Documents submitted with the review application show that Saleem told a licensing officer that he was in London self-isolating as per coronavirus travel regulations after returning from Pakistan, which is on the red list for entering the UK.

In a separate email Saleem said he had given up the business last October after contracting Covid-19 and had expected the council to cancel his licence.

Further visits were carried out by licensing officers as they had no evidence that Saleem had returned to the UK and had resumed control of the premises.

In his report the licensing officer said: “I believe that due to the absence of the DPS there was a failure to promote the licensing objectives, which ultimately lead to breaches of conditions.

“There was nobody at the premises who held a personal licence to authorise alcohol sales prior to the removal of alcohol from sale on March 16.”

Manchester council’s licensing subcommittee will review the licence at a hearing on Monday, June 28.