A longstanding Brighton family business could go under if its drinks licence is taken away for selling alcohol to underage teens, councillors were told today.
The mother of Wild Park Local’s manager, Kinchet Patel, is due to appear in court next week for selling rose wine and apple cider to two 16-year-old police cadets on separate occasions last year.
Today (Wednesday 2 March), he faced a Brighton and Hove City Council licensing panel after Sussex Police requested a review of the Barcombe Road store’s alcohol licence.
But Mr Patel, who runs the store day to day, said that, like most similar businesses, it would go under without an alcohol licence.
He said: “We have never had any police problems in the past and we have had the store for 30 years, since 1992.
“Mum’s been in the store a lot recently – with covid, business hasn’t been that great, but at the same time she’s not in the best health and she does struggle.
“I’m not saying this as an excuse. What is done is done. We are trying to stop these mistakes happening again.
“This is our livelihood. We don’t want to be failing the test any time soon. We want to be here for longer and want to do anything else we possibly can.”
He and his sister Vaishali, who is the designated premises supervisor, told the panel that they had cleared out all the old stock of high-strength cider in line with the conditions of their licence.
The till also now prompted staff selling alcohol to check younger customers’ ID, to record whether ID was asked for and whether it was shown, allowing a record to be printed out at the end of each day.
Police licensing officer Hannah Stapleton told the panel that the first test purchase was made after police community support officers (PCSOs) raised concerns.
She said that Miss Patel and her father Mahendra Patel had attended Brighton police station after the first test purchase fail.
Conditions were added to the licence and responsibility for the licence was transferred from the father to the daughter after it became clear that Mr Patel did not regularly visit the store.
Despite this, it failed another test purchase on Thursday 9 December. Ms Staplehurst said: “The seller was the same lady who had previously sold and has been issued a notice of intention to prosecute.”
She said that high-strength cider was found in the fridge, no incident or “refusal” logs or training log could be found and there were no “Challenge 25” posters, warning younger customers that they might be asked for ID.
She said: “Sussex Police do not feel this premises have responded to our stepped approach and have failed under-age test purchases on two separate occasions involving the same member of staff.
“This is a serious concern, undermining the licensing objective of protection of children from harm – and further action should be considered.”
The licensing panel, made up of three councillors – Lizzie Deane, Carmen Appich and Dee Simson = met virtually today.
They retired to consider their verdict and should publish the panel’s decision within five working days.
Close em down. Literally drug dealing to minors.