Smiles face under-age drink penalties

The Smile store on Moorland Road and two other newsagents could face stiff penalties after being caught selling alcohol to under-age people.

Police and Council trading standards officers visited 19 Smile stores in Bath and north east Somerset between May and November 2006.

They recorded seven incidents of stores selling alcohol to under-age people.

Trading Standards officer Michael Reed said: "My experience is that once one store of the same chain was given notice that Trading Standards were conducting test purchases in the area, they would notify other stores to warn them of impending visits."

Smile's senior area manager Charles Sowden said the company welcomed the licence reviews. He said: "We are going to meet with police and Trading Standards and we are trying to be proactive." This month is Alcohol Awareness Month in the stores, so we are encouraging best practice." All our staff get retrained and we are highlighting how important alcohol awareness is because once the manager goes home, it is the supervisor who is responsible for that store." As part of the review, police have requested that Smile stores have a personal licence holder present every evening and according to Mr Sowden another eight members of staff have been granted such a licence in the last week.

The three stores will be the first newsagents to be called into review in B &NES since the new Licensing Act came into force.

The review into the three Smile stores will be heard by the licensing committee of B &NES Council and they have a range of powers they can enforce. These include removing licences, forcing a change of manager or even closing the premises. Police and Trading Standards have made a number of recommendations for the premises which include employing registered security staff, fitting CCTV and ensuring the premises licence holder is around in the evening. It was also recommended that staff at both Moorland Road and St Georges Place received better training about the Think 21 scheme and records were kept of such training.

For more information, please contact:

Joanna Gregson
Licensing Officer
Licensing Services
9-10 Bath Street
Bath BA1 1SN
Telephone: 01225 396939
Email: licensing@bathnes.gov.uk