A convenience store in a seaside town accused by police of selling alcohol to a 13-year-old girl could soon be banned from selling alcohol to anyone.
Weston Convenience Store on Regent Street in Weston-super-Mare was warned and given advice after the alleged infraction in 2022. But now police are calling for its licence to be stripped, claiming it had also sold alcohol to street drinkers and that a group which included shop staff had let off fireworks outside the shop.
Now the future of the store will be decided at a licensing hearing before North Somerset Council’s licensing subcommittee on January 7. In his report to the committee, police licensing officer Andy Manhire said: “The police feels they have no option but to ask the licensing committee to revoke the premises licence.”
He said that it had been reported that a 13-year-old girl had been sold alcohol at the shop during the weekend of the enduro Weston Beach Race in 2022. Designated premises supervisor Nipun Chawla was given a warning over future conduct — but now police say that he and other staff were among a group letting off fireworks outside the shop on November 3, 2024.
Mr Manhire said: “One of the rockets actually goes off horizontally and others appear to be designed for professional displays with people kept at a safe distance, not in an unregulated public space like this. It can clearly be seen from the CCTV recordings from North Somerset Council that these fireworks are a clear risk to the public.”
The shop is located opposite the floral clock and Alexandra Parade, and has been warned by police that if street drinkers in this location bought alcohol from the shop and caused issues, the shop could face enforcement action. The shop’s licence requires it to label all alcohol as coming from the shop — but the police said that a visit in April 2024 had found only half of the alcohol had been labelled as required.
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Police said that a known street drinker was seen by police officers, PS Darnell and PC Davis, to buy alcohol from the shop in September 2024 while being — in their view — drunk. Mr Manhire said: “CCTV clearly shows the person being very unsteady on his feet and slurring his words. Despite this, the sale is permitted without question.” But a statement submitted to the licensing committee by Gurpreet Singh, who said he was working in the shop at the time, said: “He did not seem drunk or disorderly to me, and was perfectly polite.”
The licensing hearing will take place at the licensing subcommittee’s meeting at 10.30am on January 7 in the Kenn Room in Weston-super-Mare Town Hall.