Bid to re-open Wolverhampton off-licence that sold alcohol to children rejected
A council has rejected plans to re-open an off-licence after it was twice shut down over illicit alcohol sales.
City of Wolverhampton Council’s licensing subcommittee rejected plans by Hizbullah Ahmadzai and Atif Atifi to open HA Supermarket in the former AK Convenience Store in Willenhall Road, East Park, Wolverhampton.
3 Jyott Off-Licence, the previous name for AK Convenience Store, had its licence revoked by the council in 2023 after owner Gurdip Singh had allowed cans of high-strength lager to be sold to a 15-year-old.
The shop’s licence was revoked again last year after it was discovered Mr Singh had remained involved in the business despite a condition being imposed he was barred.
The shop remains under investigation by the council over the continued sale of alcohol from the shop once the licence was revoked.
At the hearing on Thursday (January 29), City of Wolverhampton Council’s licensing subcommittee criticised the “lack of transparency” over the sale of the business from Mr Ahmadzai and Mr Atifi which had suggested it was still connected to its previous owner.
Rejecting the application, the committee added that even if concerns over the connection to the shop’s previous proprietors did not loom over the pair, it was still not confident the inexperienced owners had the knowledge to run the off-licence safely.
The committee said it was disappointed that neither could name any of the licensing objectives – which included preventing crime, disorder and public nuisance, public safety, and protecting children from harm – despite recent training.
Previous owner Gurdip Singh had his licence revoked by City of Wolverhampton Council in 2023 over sales of alcohol to children.
The council had received a complaint from the father of a 15-year-old girl with learning difficulties who had been sold five cans of high-strength lager from the shop while away from her assisted accommodation.
The vulnerable teenager later rushed to hospital with suspected cardiac arrest after being found collapsed in the street.
Confronting the shop owner, the father demanded £50 to cover medication costs alongside a promise not to report the incident to authorities which Mr Singh paid.
A few months later, the shop owner’s 16-year-old son was believed to have sold two cans of gin and tonic to an undercover child without asking for ID in a sting by the council.
The minutes from the hearing in 2023 said: “The licensing subcommittee felt that they had no option but to revoke the licence given the serious harm caused to a vulnerable fifteen year old girl by the underage sale of alcohol, the sale of which was repeated soon afterwards to a child in a test purchase operation.
“Mr Singh had deliberately allowed the deletion of evidence from the CCTV and tried to bribe the father of the hospitalised child not to make a complaint.
“The subcommittee felt that a period of suspension or the imposition of conditions would be a redundant approach given the seriousness of the incidents and the admitted criminality of Mr Singh’s actions.”
