A late night convenience store on Stroud Green Road has had its alcohol licence revoked after a series of issues police described as “a blatant disregard for the law.”
Seven Days Food and Wine lost the licence for attempting to sell alcohol after licensed hours to revellers at the Wireless festival, despite police denying its request to extend off sales for the event.
Islington Council took the move after the Licensing Authority, Trading Standards and Metropolitan Police accused licence holder Tacim Yavuz of breaching the rules between 30 June and 2 July this year.
Yavuz had applied for a temporary change in his licence to allow him to sell alcohol until 2.30am during the festival, but Police objected and Islington Council informed him of the decision.
Angered, Yavuz emailed a licensing officer at the council saying, “A shop 15 metres from mine has been granted a licence…these events are going on and it’s most probable[sic] the only time I can make a bit of money.”
In early July, two licensing officers visited Seven Days Food and Wine and were able to buy alcohol out of the shop’s licensed hours.
Over the following weeks, officers visited Yavuz’s business six times and found a catalogue of licence breaches— including selling alcohol exceeding his licence’s ABV percentage, failing to repair broken CCTV, and not checking alcohol buyers’ IDs.
In a letter to Licensing Committee B, an Islington Council consumer services officer characterised the store’s management as “extreme negligence or incompetence.”
Describing the breach in evidence to Islington police, the licensing team wrote, “They [Seven Days Food and Wine] have completely ignored the law…this is not a catalogue of forgivable errors, but a blatant disregard for the law.”
Yavuz’s refused to comment but confirmed to Islington Now that he would challenge the council’s decision.
Photo: Pending
@OliverMilne