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Islington Tribune - by JAMIE WELHAM
Published: 09 January 2009

Newsagent’s second licence review

A NEWSAGENT from Newington Green caught selling alcohol to a 15-year-old for the second time has been stripped of his alcohol licence for one month.
Mehmet Feme always vowed he would rather “go out of business” than sell alcohol to children.
Mr Feme, who works at Daily Newsagent, made the pledge to police and trading standards officers the first time he was hauled in front of authorities for selling a Bacardi Breezer to a teenager last July.
But in October, another 15-year-old volunteer was sold a bottle of WKD in front of a plain clothes police officer as part of a council-backed crackdown on unscrupulous traders and underage drinking.
Town Hall licensing chiefs sat down on Wednesday to decide whether the 24-hour newsagent was fit to sell alcohol.
When Mr Feme met authorities with his wife in July, they told of how youngsters became aggressive, sometimes stealing from the shop, when asked for proof of age. They also bemoaned the lack of police support, claiming nothing had been done when they handed over CCTV footage showing theft.
The council’s trading standards team has been carrying out “test purchasing” exercises throughout the borough over the year.
Store manager, Yolanda Feme said losing her licence would mean having to close the shop.
Ms Feme, who lives in Finsbury Park and has worked in the store for three years, said: “I’m so disappointed. I think we have been a bit unlucky but it is not easy. We try our best and I can honestly say things have tightened up. I’d say we know about 90 per cent of the local kids, and I talk to them so they don’t try it any more.
“The problem is really at weekends with people from outside the immediate area in the evenings.
“I’m really worried that we might lose our licence [permanently]. If we did we would have to close but hopefully we can show them things are improving.”

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