Convenience store in trouble for making alcohol availability a little too convenient

By Adrian Zorzut, Local Democracy Reporter

A convenience store which sold alcohol outside of its licensing hours to undercover inspectors faces permanent closure, a council report shows.

Westminster City council said its officers were offered drinks past Sunny Corner’s 11pm cut-off on two separate occasions in July.

Inspectors, who are calling for the premises to lose its licence, also found spirits, wines and prosecco freely on display when they should have been locked behind counters.

According to a council report, Sunny Corner said it was unaware it had to lock all alcohol away, while the Met found it had made some improvements but not enough to ensure it stays open.

Westminster City licensing inspectors visited the premises, in Harrow Road in Maida Hill, on July 16 and July 20 following tip-offs the shop had been breaching its licensing conditions. During their first undercover inspection, officers were offered a bottle of strong tonic wine at 11.55pm.

When they returned four days later, they found alcoholic drinks on display and were handed a bottle of Smirnoff Ice by an employee who grabbed it from a cabinet that had a pull-down cover over it. On July 22, officers told the licence holder’s son and a member of staff the store had failed its inspection.

They said the store had also failed to make the number of a manager publicly available and found the tills did not automatically ask for age verification – all of which were conditions on Sunny’s licence when it was granted just a month earlier. The store’s management also passed up two chances to meet with council inspectors to discuss the issues that had been identified.

Officers wrote: “In total there have now been four non-compliant visits and in spite of officer’s best efforts to achieve compliance, the premises continues to operate in a way that impacts negatively on the Harrow Road ward.

“Adding to increased anti-social behaviour with large groups purchasing drinks and congregating nearby late into the night.

“The licence holder has also failed to engage with officers regarding alleged offences. Despite our best efforts to try and gain compliance through engaging with the premises and by imposing civil penalties, it has had no meaningful lasting impact, and the premises does not seem to be acting responsibly.

“As such, given the serious and repetitive nature of these incidents, we respectfully ask that the licence is revoked in line with the licensing objectives.”

It’s a sentiment also felt by the Met Police, which backed the initial review and submitted a letter to Westminster City’s licensing committee calling for the shop to close for good.

Met officers visited the convenience store on September 18 and October 2 and in both instances found staff unable to work the CCTV, drinks on open display, a lack of prominent signage regarding when alcohol could be cold, the sale of super-strong alcohol, and an incident log which was not up to date.

Sunny Corner said it had sold alcohol one minute over time. They said there were no beers above 5.5 per cent alcohol on sale. They said there was some in a cooler that had to be shifted behind the counter in accordance with the law and that this was done. They said all staff are trained, and that the training is logged in a manual.

They added the CCTV has been rectified and was working and that staff were being fully trained in it and were conversant in it. Westminster City council will review Sunny Corner’s licence tomorrow.

Pictured top: Sunny Corner, which is having its licence reviewed (Picture: Google Street View)