Issue - meetings

Review Application

RECEIVED the application made by Trading Standards for a review of the Premises Licence (LN/201200255) held by Mr RajasingamSundaramoorthy at the premises known as and situated at Sarge Off Licence, 240 Fore Street, Edmonton, N18 2QD.

NOTED

1.  The introduction by Charlotte Palmer, Senior Licensing Enforcement Officer, including:

a.  This was a review of the licence of Sarge Off Licence. The licence currently permitted off-sales of alcohol from 08:00 to 23:00 daily. The Premises Licence Holder and Designated Premises Supervisor (DPS) was Rajasingam Sundaramoorthy.

b.  On 24 January 2020, Enfield Council’s Trading Standards submitted a review application in relation to the prevention of crime and disorder licensing objective, and seeking revocation of the premises licence in its entirety.

c.  A large amount of non-duty paid cigarettes had been found at the premises, as set out in Annex 2 of the report.

d.  There were no other representations in respect of this review application.

e.  There had been no response from the premises licence holder to date.

f.  If the Licensing Sub-Committee (LSC) was minded not to revoke the licence, Trading Standards proposed modifications to the licence conditions as set out in Annex 3, and asked that the licence be suspended until full compliance with the licence conditions had been demonstrated.

g.  At the hearing, Trading Standards were represented by Ann Bowes, Senior Fair Trading Officer, and Rajasingam Sundaramoorthy and his son were present, and also represented by Michael Rogers, Counsel, Lamb Building.

2.  The statement on behalf of Trading Standards, including:

a.  The review application was based on the crime and disorder licensing objective; namely that non-duty paid tobacco was found on the premises.

b.  On 29 October 2019, officers from Trading Standards and Licensing Enforcement, the Police Licensing Officer, and a dog handler and dogs from Wagtail International carried out a day of unannounced visits to shops in LB Enfield, including a visit to Sarge Off Licence. The premises was searched and a large amount of non-duty paid cigarettes and tobacco were found behind the counter. The items seized were 260 packets in total (5200 sticks), plus 31 single cigarettes, and 18 packets of hand rolling tobacco.

c.  An interview under caution had been conducted, and a prosecution was ongoing. An explanation had been given that the items were for personal use and had been given as gifts from customers and had to be kept at the premises as they were not able to be kept at home.

d.  At an officer visit out of hours, Rajasingam Sundaramoorthy was not present at the premises, nor was he on 29 October 2019. There was only one member of staff at the shop: Jesi Patni.

e.  Conditions had been found in non compliance, namely Conditions 4, 5, 6, 9, 10, 11 and 12 of the licence. This led to the Licensing Authority having no confidence in Mr Sundaramoorthy to run the business within the law.

f.  He had acted quickly to rectify compliance with the conditions, and demonstrated  ...  view the full minutes text for item 518