Wolverhampton off-licence applies to re-open after twice being shut down after selling alcohol to children
A hearing will decide whether an off-licence can re-open after being twice shut down by a council.
City of Wolverhampton Council’s licensing subcommittee will decide on the new plans for the AK Convenience Store and Off Licence in Willenhall Road, East Park, after the shop had its licence revoked twice since 2023.
The application for a new premises licence by HA Supermarket Ltd, which lists Hizbullah Ahmadzai and Atif Atif as directors, will be decided by City of Wolverhampton Council’s licensing subcommittee on January 29.
3 Jyott Off-Licence, the previous name for AK Convenience Store, had its licence revoked in 2023 after owner Gurdip Singh had allowed cans of high-strength lager to be sold to a 15-year-old.
The vulnerable teenager who had learning difficulties and lived in assisted accommodation was later rushed to hospital with suspected cardiac arrest after being found collapsed in the street.
A few months later, the shop owner’s 16-year-old nephew 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.
Wolverhampton’s trading standards said a new licence had been granted to the off-licence as Mayfield Stores in 2023 under the condition that previous licence holder Gurdip Singh was barred from any involvement in the business.
The council’s licensing subcommittee revoked the licence for Mayfield Stores in September last year though the details have not been made public.
Trading standards’ latest objection for a new licence for AK Convenience Store says it was found that Gurdip Singh had remained involved in the business, despite being barred under the conditions of the subsequent licence, as the council investigates the off-licence for illegal sales.
The council added that a “large amount of alcohol” had been seized from the shop.
The minutes for the restricted hearing in September said the named licence holder Lilian Kabanyoro did not attend and told the council she “knew nothing about the matter, had nothing to do with the store and that the current staff should not be using her name on the licence.”
Nevertheless, the hearing went ahead without her and the subcommittee revoked the licence.
Gurdip Singh had his licence for 3 Jyott Off-Licence, the previous name for AK Convenience Store in Willenhall Road, 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 by the shop while away from her assisted accommodation.
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.
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.”
