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A decision has been made on a fresh bid to sell alcohol at a troubled convenience store in Woodley.
Brecon Stores is situated at The Parade in Brecon Road, within walking distance for hundreds of people in the area.
But the owner of the store, Kubil Singh Kapoor got into trouble after allegations that vodka was sold to a 12-year-old child and alcohol to a 14-year-old child.
The licence to sell alcohol at the store was therefore revoked by councillors on Wokingham Borough Council’s licensing and appeals hearing sub-committee in May last year.
Although Mr Kapoor intended to appeal against the decision, this was withdrawn the day before a hearing was due to take place last month.
The ban on alcohol sales came into effect after that.
He also admitted to the sale and possession of counterfeit and unsafe alcohol, resulting in guilty pleas and a total financial penalty of £9,029.
Another businessman was hoping to take the shop over and sell alcohol from there from 7am to 11pm each day.
There was some confusion over the prospective new owner Vivek Bohara’s current work in IT, and previous experience managing the IndusFresh at the Loddon Vale Centre.
Mr Bohara explained: “I work for Deloitte, I am an IT consultant, and I want to get into the business also.
“I’m still working 9am to 5pm and I managed to run the store with staff as well.
“The staff know me because I’ve been going there to return parcels, and I know Mr Kapoor as well, I’ve been going there since 2019.”
He agreed to buy Brecon Stores for £40,000 if the licence was approved, paying an initial sum of £15,000.
But the application faced objections from the council’s licensing team and Thames Valley Police.
The team’s legal adviser, Rachel Lucas pointed out that there is currently no ‘Challenge 25’ age verification policy at the store and argued staff have not undergone sufficient training.
She said: “We have no confidence that granting this application would result in responsible or lawful alcohol sales.”
Mr Bohara had agreed to implement a Challenge 25 policy, install CCTV and conduct staff training if the licence were granted.
Representing Mr Bohara, Manpreet Kapoor said: “The decision should not be based on the previous mistakes of the previous license holder.
“Yes, we understand Mr Kapoor has been the property owner and premises owner till now, but if the licence was granted then that would change.
“We have proposed conditions and offerings to address the concerns of the responsible authorities.
“Mr Bohara does have a nine-to-five job, he is an IT consultant, he would not want to be involved in any criminal offences or anything that would then harm his current job as well.
“So he wouldn’t want to disrespect the license objectives. He would want to uphold them to his best and make sure that he remains compliant because it wouldn’t only affect his business, but it would also affect his job if anything was to go wrong.”
Ultimately, the application was rejected by the licensing and appeals hearing sub-committee on March 3.
The decision was made by councillors Pauline Jorgensen (Conservative, Hillside), Kay Gilder (Conservative, South Lake) and Jackie Rance (Conservative, Shinfield).
