Alcohol licence bid fails after illegal worker find

A bid to resume alcohol sales at a convenience store where a failed asylum seeker was found working illegally has been blocked.

The former manager of M&M Food & Wine, in Wokingham Road, Reading, lost his licence to sell alcohol after a Nepalese worker was found there by council officers in June.

The man arrived in the country without legal authorisation and had claimed asylum but that was rejected and he was liable for deportation.

Another businessman, Kulwant Singh Gaba, had applied to sell alcohol at the shop from 07:00 until 00:00 every day. But authorities opposed his application following previous offences relating to alcohol and tobacco.

Reading Borough Council's licensing team, environmental health department, Trading Standards and Thames Valley Police all objected to that application, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

Ian Savill, the council's principal Trading Standards officer, said Gaba had previous convictions for the sale of counterfeit alcohol in 2010, 2014, 2016 and 2017 and rule breaches for the sale of tobacco.

The council's licensing application's sub-committee rejected the application at a meeting on Thursday.