A supermarket has been banned from selling alcohol after Enfield Council revoked its licence for selling illicit cigarettes and alcohol and selling booze outside agreed licenced hours.
The borough’s Licensing Sub-Committee revoked the licence of Euro Express in Chase Side, Enfield, on Wednesday 27 April after an investigation by council officers saw evidence of after-hours sales of alcohol in July, August and September 2015 and February 2016. This despite the proprietor being repeatedly warned of the consequences of selling alcohol after 11pm.
Following the last test purchase in February, Licensing Enforcement officers also found and seized 192 packets of cigarettes, 89 packets of hand-rolling tobacco and nine bottles of vodka that were illegally imported into the country without any duty being paid on them.
An application to review the business’s licence was submitted by the Council and supported by the Metropolitan Police.
Enfield Council’s Cabinet Member for Environment, Cllr Daniel Anderson, said: “Though we’re reluctant to remove a premises’ licence, in this case the owners and managers really didn’t give us any choice simply because they repeatedly broke the law by selling alcohol outside their agreed trading hours.
“Not only were there issues with anti-social behaviour, but this shop was selling tobacco and alcohol it had not paid the proper duty on, which gave them an unfair advantage over other businesses in our borough that play by the rules.
“The sale of illegal alcohol and tobacco also helps to fund organised crime groups, which import them and expose shoppers to unacceptable risk from products whose safety cannot be verified because they haven’t passed through any official channels.”