Bristol corner shop keeps alcohol licence despite getting caught selling stolen wine

A corner shop in St Werburghs has kept its alcohol licence despite getting caught selling suspected stolen wine. In January police inspectors found 16 bottles of wine on sale from shops like Tesco, Lidl and Marks and Spencer.

St Werburghs Food & Wine, on the corner of Mina Road and York Street, was also found to have illegal vapes, although managers denied these were on sale. The shop’s premises licence has now been updated with stringent conditions, and can continue selling alcohol.

Licensing officers from Avon and Somerset Police told a licensing hearing at Bristol City Council that the shop was not a “problem premises”, and the incident appeared to be a one-off. Councillors were told the shop had made a mistake, during the hearing on Thursday, May 23.

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Stewart Gibson, a licensing consultant representing the shop, said: “There’s no way on earth we’ll come here and try to justify what happened. These gentlemen have held their hands up and said ‘yes mistakes have been made’.

“The branded wine that ended up in the store was purchased by a member of the team, who thought it would be acceptable to do so. Once that was brought to their attention, that member of staff no longer works for the business. He was removed from the team. The gentlemen here are apologising that that took place, and it will never take place again.

“With disposable vapes, there’s a limited amount of knowledge out in the field and the industry about what you can and can’t do. These gentlemen believed what they were told by the wholesaler that they were legal. They purchased them with limited knowledge but in good faith.”

He added that a member of the public informed shop staff that the vapes were illegal, at which point they were taken off display and put into storage. The staff “hoped to return” the vapes to the wholesaler, but this hadn’t occurred before the police inspected the premises.

Louise Mowbray, a police licensing officer, said: “We identified what we suspected were a number of stolen bottles of wine. We also found what we suspected were illegal vapes in the premises, they weren’t on display but they were in the premises in the storeroom and hidden in a cupboard.

“Wine from a number of supermarkets shouldn’t have been in the shop. They should have been bought from a wholesaler. Accepting suspected stolen wine comes with risks. The provenance of that wine hasn’t been tested, we don’t know what’s been in that wine. We could be potentially putting members of the public at risk.

“The premises doesn’t cause us considerable concern. It’s not a problem premises, it’s not something we would class as a red ongoing issue premises. In this instance I think this may be a bit of a learning curve, there’s been some changes in place since we’ve been in there.”