A licensing meeting for a Gateshead convenience store which had previously been found with fake vodka has been delayed for a second time.
Gateshead Council’s licensing sub-committee has postponed the application hearing for Today’s Local, on Fewster Square, Felling, due to the availability of the business owner’s representatives. A previous meeting to consider a licence for the premises was also abandoned in January this year.
Councillors have been recommended to refuse the licence application from the authority’s Trading Standards and public health teams and Northumbria Police.
Written representations from Trading Standards state on October 31, 2024, 25 bottles of counterfeit Glen’s Vodka were discovered in the shop’s storeroom, alongside 56 illegal vapes. According to Trading Standards’ report, the vapes had larger than legally sanctioned fluid tanks and did not bear the correct warning labels.
A later food hygiene inspection on November 19, 2024 also found the shop in the possession of 98 cans of ‘Mtn Dew’ containing a banned additive, calcium disodium, which has been linked to kidney failure, organ damage, irregular heart beats, seizure and “even death”.
Northumbria Police stated: "Whilst each application is taken on its own merits to agree to an additional premises licence with the requested hours [07:00 - 01:00] in this locality will add to the negative cumulative impact in relation to anti-social behaviour and alcohol-related anti-social behaviour and therefore undermine the licensing objective of the prevention of crime and disorder.”
Gateshead Council’s public health team added: "Our concerns about the lack of strong management of a premises licence are that it would exacerbate pre-existing alcohol related harm in a vulnerable community."
The application for the premises states that the owners will ensure a fully operational CCTV system is in place within the shop, as well as an incident log to be made available to police as and when requested. A strict ‘Challenge 25’ policy would also be in place alongside regular staff training.
According to the local authority, the meeting for the licensing application is to be rescheduled on a date where all parties can attend.
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