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Upmart Convenience Store, Maidstone, banned from selling beer, lager and cider above 7% ABV

An off licence has been banned from selling high strength beer, cider and alcohol.

Concerns were raised in June when a drunk customer stumbled out of Upmart News in Maidstone and fell into a PCSO who was talking to them.

Upmart Convenience Store in Gabriel's Hill, Maidstone
Upmart Convenience Store in Gabriel's Hill, Maidstone

In a statement the PCSO said the man's breath smelt of alcohol and his speech was slurred.

An employee at the shop in Gabriel's Hill told police she had served the man. She received a fixed penalty notice and a warning letter was issued to Vegavanavel Sivothayan, the shop's owner and designated premises supervisor.

Despite prior warnings, constables witnessed another employee serve a woman they described as slurring her words and with the demeanour of a drunk person, around a week later.

A PC entered the shop and body worn camera footage showed staff bagging up cans of high strength lager for the woman, swaying side to side.

Today Maidstone Borough Council's Licensing Act 2003 Sub Committee set out a list of conditions the Gabriel's Hill shop must now follow.

'If every licence holder was to take their responsibility seriously, we would have less meetings like this' Cllr Dave Naghi

In its application for a review, Kent Police said the shop has become a preferred location for early-morning street drinkers to buy booze and says this is fuelling aggressive and anti-social behaviour.

Conditions agreed between police and Mr Sivothayan stopped short of changing the shop's opening hours, or banning the sale of individual cans.

However the shop has been banned from selling beer, lager or cider with a strength of more than 7%.

Speaking to the committee, the shop's owner said alcohol sales made up 40% of his business.

Gill Sherratt from Licensing Matters, representing Mr Sivothayan, said: "I've been working with Mr Sivothayan. He has been let down with legal representation previously and that's why we're here.

"He accepts the failings and fully accepts the improvements that need to be made."

The committee also agreed Upmart News must install new CCTV "capable of providing pictures of evidential quality," and improve its refusal recording system.

Chairing today's meeting, Cllr Dave Naghi said: "The committee would like to remind Mr Sivothayan of his responsibilities.

"Every person with a selling licence should have responsibility over what they're selling. We don't want to create any more problems than we have in Maidstone.

"If every licence holder was to take their responsibility seriously, we would have less meetings like this."

Read more: All the latest news from Maidstone.

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