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Islington Tribune - by PETER GRUNER
Published: 13 June 2008

Shop’s seven day booze ban is ‘laughable’

Calls for tough action on sales to minors

POLICE and anti-binge-drinking campaigners were furious this week after a Barnsbury shop which repeatedly sold booze to children under 18 had it’s alcohol counter closed for just one week.
Criticising the decision, Sergeant Nigel Ward warned that alcohol abuse among young people was a “huge problem” and shops must be “thoroughly deterred” from selling drink to minors.
His remarks ignited a row on whether the borough’s licensing committee – until recently chaired by Islington’s mayor, Lib Dem councillor Stefan Kaspryzk – is tough enough on outlets that break the law.
Sergeant Ward, head of the Neighbourhood Police Team for Barnsbury, spoke at a meeting of the Labour-controlled West Area Committee on Tuesday night.
He said that privately officers were “appalled” by the seven-day closure of the alcohol counter at Odessa store in Copenhagen street.
Residents at the meeting expressed their concerns that underage drinking was becoming a problem on the streets and particularly in open spaces like Barnard Park, which is opposite the store.
The meeting heard there are regular “sting operations” to ensure that shops and stores are obeying the law against supplying drink to minors.
Police, in conjunction with Islington Council, regularly send volunteer children into selected outlets to try and obtain alcohol.
If the volunteers are successful the shop can be prosecuted and can receive a £1,000 fine while their licence comes up for review by the council.
Shops can lose their licence for good, but in the case of Odessa – warned three times for selling alcohol to children – a seven-day drinks closure notice, issued last month, was considered by the licensing committee to be a sufficient penalty.
Labour councillor Paul Convery, chairman of the west area planning committee, said the seven-day closure was “laughable”.
He added: “What kind of a message is that?
“It says if you break the law and sell to minors it doesn’t have to mean the end of your licence.
“But it is precisely the opposite message that we need.
“If an outlet repeatedly sells booze to children I would like to see their drinks licence removed permanently.
“Let them come back in a couple of years’ time and say they have learned the error of their ways – but in the meantime we have to take strong and immediate action.”
Cllr Convery said that Islington’s licensing committee was “obsessed with being seen as quasi-judicial” but not so keen on regulations.
He added: “We need some really tough, almost authoritarian action if we are going to stamp out binge-drinking.”
But Cllr Kaspryzk hit back, saying that the committee’s hands were tied by current regulations.
He added: “We thought about closing this store’s alcohol section for good but if they had decided to appeal they could have just stayed open anyway. An appeal can take months and there’s a good chance that if they go to appeal with the threat of losing their livelihood they could win.”
The committee heard that nearby Caledonian Road has almost reached “saturation point” for the number of outlets allowed to sell alcohol.
New guidelines mean that applications for new licences would have to be scrutinised even more thoroughly and could be refused.

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