Newport convenience store caught selling booze to suspected ‘intoxicated’ customers after hours

A Newport convenience store was caught selling booze to suspected “intoxicated” customers three hours after it was supposed to stop booze sales.
Council licensing officers on patrol in the city centre witnessed a staff member at the Premier Store, at 186 Upper Dock Street, serving two men cans of pre-mixed vodka drinks through a night hatch at 1.30am.
Another two men were seen buying beer as the officers approached the premises – which only has a licence to sell booze until 10.30pm.
The council’s licensing committee heard such restrictions were generally in place to stop people “pre-loading” on drinks before going into pubs and clubs and potentially causing drunken and bad behaviour.
It also heard shop owner Muhammad Salman was unable to provide CCTV to prove the incident was in isolation, and instead “acknowledged the illegal sale on December 14 was not a one-off”.
Licensing officer Steve Pontin told the committee his department initially concluded it had “no confidence in the management or operational practices at the premises”.
But licensing manager Alastair Dearling told the committee the situation had since improved, with Mr Salman “forthcoming” and “proactive” in his contact with the officers.
He said the conditions imposed in 2010 on the shop’s original licence were somewhat outdated.
“Ultimately what we’ve proposed is to take the 2010 licence, and in principle pretty much scrap the conditions attached… and add further conditions to strengthen that licence”, Mr Dearling explained.
Those new conditions, covering matters such as CCTV, would be “pretty much best practice within the off-licence industry”, he added.
Mr Pontin also said the shop had promptly stopped the sale of single cans of alcohol on the council’s request.
The shop owner, Mr Salman, apologised and took “full responsibility” for the incident – and said it was “very shocking” to hear a then-employee had sold alcohol after 10.30pm.
He told the committee his wife would be in charge of the premises from now on.
Mr Salman said he accepted the council’s new and “fair” conditions, and wanted to “make things better for the public, the staff and myself”.
Mr Dearling called Newport city centre a “complex area” where late-night booze sales were restricted in shops to prevent people “pre-loading” on drink before heading into other premises.
Without those controls, Mr Dearling said people would be “able to probably neck a bottle of wine or consume high-strength alcohol at cheaper prices, and then access licensed premises before that alcohol hits”.
“It’s there where the issues occur – where people are pre-loading significantly in the city centre,” he said. “This has caused significant issues, both for licensed premises themselves and also those who are involved in managing the night-time economy.”
The committee agreed to impose the new set of conditions on the shop’s licence. ‌​‌​‌​​​‍‌​‌​​‌‌‌‍‌​‌‌​​‌​‍‌​‌‌‌​‌‌‍‌​‌‌‌‌​​

By BBC LDRS ‌​‌​‌​​​‍‌​‌​​‌‌‌‍‌​‌‌​​‌​‍‌​‌‌‌​‌‌‍‌​‌‌‌‌​​