By Carmelo Garcia – Local Democracy Reporter
A Cheltenham convenience shop which was previously caught selling alcohol and vapes to children has now been stripped of its licence after it was caught selling alcohol without a supervisor.
Bargain Booze Select Convenience, at 216 – 218 Hewlett Road was caught by Gloucestershire Constabulary persistently selling alcohol to children over a three month period between April and June.
This prompted them to call on licensing chiefs at Cheltenham Borough Council to review their premises licence.
They were then banned from selling alcohol for a month and issued with a final warning.
The committee resolved in September to remove the designated premises supervisor (DPS) and suspend the licence for four weeks subject to the new DPS being appointed with the relevant qualifications.
However, the shop was caught selling alcohol without a DPS present in January this year prompting the police to apply for a licence review.
They have now been stripped of their premises licence which allowed them to sell and supply alcohol from 6am to 11pm every day.
The committee heard how the licensee Dalwinder Kaur would be made homeless if they were to strip them of their licence.
PC Nick Battye told the licensing sub-committee that Gloucestershire Constabulary “clearly do not want to be making anybody homeless”.
But they said the review hearing was about an issue which is “undermining the licensing objectives”.
He said the shop had been “trading illegally”.
He said it would be reasonable to expect if a licence holder was fearing being made homeless it would “concentrate the mind somewhat and ensure compliance”.
But he said PC Jeremy Samson visited in January and upon entering he observed that alcohol was physically on display.
“The officer was certain no application to vary the DPS had been submitted and therefore no alcohol sales should be taking place,” PC Battye said.
“As outlined in the officer’s statement, the officer spoke to the premises license holder Dalwinder Kaur who was present inside the store.
The officer asked whether they’d been selling alcohol, to which he confirmed they have been doing so since around November 4, 2024.
“The officer also inquired about the change of DPS, noting that he’d been under the impression that her daughter was due to take on this responsibility. Mr Kaur responded that the matter had been handled by their solicitor.
“At this point the officer requested to see the premises license holder to verify the details of the DPS, however, these documents could not be produced.
“Frankly, the reason why they could not be produced is because they did not exist.”
PC Battye said it constituted a “blatant disregard” of the licensing act. “The licence holder’s duty to produce the licence wasn’t done.
“Unauthorised licensable activities have clearly taken place.”
Her solicitor said he understood the problem and claimed a company named PLC did not send the application to vary the DPS.
“That is why the matter happened,” he said. “Training is carried out on a regular basis.
“There are two people serving in the shop. We are very apologetic.
“Dalwinder is very apologetic.” He said PLC was supposed to submit the application to change the DPS.
“I’m part of the company also,” he said. “I do the hearings, not that work.
“The staff that should have sent the change DPS application to the council. They prepared the document but did not send it over.”
He said it was overlooked “for some reason”. He accepted that it was their fault and they should not have been trading.
But Chairman David Willingham (LD, St Peters) asked why there was no evidence regarding PLC.
“We’ve got what you said but no written evidence of this,” he said. The solicitor apologised and said PLC could write to the council.
He asked why the licensee did not have documents on request for police and had to go through a third party.
Licensing officer Michelle Bignell told the meeting they had not received any evidence that Ms Kaur had undertaken annual refresher courses since 2021.
PC Battye asked why no contact was made with Cheltenham Borough Council. And if the licence holder had any tangible evidence relating to attempts to vary the DPS other than to try to defer a review hearing.
The police recommended revocation. “This is not the first review hearing,” PC Battye said
“It is the second within seven months.”
He said there had been “a lot of passing of responsibility and words exchanged” but apart from a “questionable email” there was no other evidence.
A suspension and amendment has been determined and it has failed, he added.
He said the next obvious is step revocation as they were “found to be trading illegally”.
Their solicitor did not dispute the facts presented. He said there was an incident book at the shop and claimed training was carried out.
Chairman Willingham told the meeting that the committee had resolved to revoke the licence.
“Since all other options have been exhausted, we have tried changing the DPS, we have modified conditions and we have suspended the license.
“Ultimately, if this is a genuine error, the premises licensing holder has the opportunity to appeal to the magistrates’ court and produce all documents to the court for their deliberation.
“We’ve not had evidence and documented forms of compliance in line with our constitution, and we’ve had only limited verbal, limited weight verbal assurances.
“There’s no paper trail presented to the licensing subcommittee.
“The process hasn’t been respected and despite being given every opportunity, having been subject to a review seven months ago, therefore, the subcommittee has no choice but to revoke the license, and this is its decision.”