An Indian restaurant owner faced objections from police and licensing officers for the second time in a matter of months after re-applying for a drinks licence for his business.
Rafiqul Islam, 47, wants to serve alcohol from 10am to 11pm at Cardamom, in St James’s Street, Brighton. He has not been legally able to do so since his licence lapsed.
He previously applied for a licence until midnight every day but was turned down after a Brighton and Hove City Council licensing panel hearing in February.
Mr Islam has since brought in a former colleague and more experienced licence holder, Szabolcs Veres, to work as the designated premises supervisor (DPS) with responsibility for alcohol sales.
But at a licensing panel hearing before three councillors today (Friday 6 June), Sussex Police licensing officer Mark Thorogood listed several issues with the premises since Mr Islam took over.
These included
- The licence lapsing in October 2023
- Alcohol was listed on the menu and a beer pump was still connected in November 2023 even though the premises no longer had a licence
- Trading outside permitted hours and with no functioning closed-circuit television (CCTV) in December 2023
- The battery-operated CCTV was not working in December 2024
The panel was told that the incident log had not been signed off and staff had not received the training that they needed, the licence was found to have lapsed and Mr Islam was given a final warning.
Conservative councillor Ivan Lyons asked what measures would give the police confidence to support Mr Islam’s premises having a licence. Mr Thorogood said that there were none.
He said: “We have raised our concerns around a history of non-compliance and a new proposed DPS.
“We have spent a long time already trying to assist Mr Islam in adhering to the previous premises licences he has held but with no success.”
Mr Thorogood said that the business was small and “not challenging” but the various issues, including trading without a licence, meant that the force had lost confidence in Mr Islam.
Council licensing officer Donna Lynsdale also said that she had no confidence in Mr Islam’s ability to comply with any licence conditions.
Ms Lynsdale said that she visited the business in February to ensure that no alcohol was on sale after the previous licence application was turned down.
Although no alcoholic drinks were on display, they were still included in the menus on the counter.
She said that Mr Islam called her for help with his new licence application and asked her to recommend someone who could help.
Ms Lynsdale said: “Mr Islam stated he believed the reason the last application was refused was because the committee did not like his legal representative.
