An Edinburgh newsagent which sold alcohol late on Hogmanay has lost its alcohol licence after failing to comply with council and police interventions.
At a licensing board meeting on Monday, councillors heard that police saw a staff member inside the Hanover Street Londis selling alcohol at 11.20pm on Hogmanay.
Officers later made four visits to the property in an effort to view CCTV footage of the incident, all of which failed.
During a fifth attempt, police asked to see CCTV footage, but saw the words “no disc” on the camera terminal, which had not been observed before then.
Police Sergeant Grant Robertson said: “On police visits, the police licensing team have assessed there’s been a lack of cooperation from the venue.
“No explanation has been given by staff or the applicant as to why CCTV footage was no longer available.”
He added that, during visits, no duty staff member was able to present an occasional licence, and nobody with “managerial responsibility” was present.
Further, he said a notice that selling alcohol to under-18s was illegal was not in place during any of their visits, which was a criminal offence.
This was the ground on which Police Scotland wanted to see the shop denied a new occasional licence, which would cease their alcohol sales.
Staff at the premises had missed one pre-arranged meeting with the police service to share CCTV information without explanation as to why.
The newsagents was on its 54th occasional licence in a row when the incident occurred, as it has not been able to procure a provisional premises licence.
Sgt Robertson said this was due to the lack of a revised layout plan which was a council requirement.
An officer for the council licensing team confirmed the failure to display the notice, and said the team had provided the shop with one at the first of four visits of their own.
She added that it took all four visits for staff to correct pricing issues council officers had seen within the business, and that it was not replying to emails for the service.
Licensing solicitor, Alastair Macdonald, representing the shop owner, as well as applicant Prabhjat Singh, initially presented an alternative narrative for what happened on Hogmanay.
He said: “We have interrogated the staff member who was there that day. His reaction to that is that “I didn’t sell any alcohol, it must have been stolen”.
“In fact, there were several thefts that evening, one of which happened when the police were actually there.
“But the police are saying, I’ve spoken to Sgt Robertson, and the police are saying it happened. I don’t think there’s any point in us taking issue with that.”
He then continued: “I think at the end of the day, the police say there was a sale, we have accepted there was a sale. I don’t know why it happened. It was Hogmanay.”
Mr Macdonald then added that the firm had “no idea” why the staff member had made the sale, and confirmed he was trained in licensing rules.
He said the CCTV was truly broken, and staff at the premises were not aware of the planned meeting with Police Scotland.
He added that the other businesses in Edinburgh run by the owner had a clean track record, and said a notice around not serving alcohol to underage people was displayed at one point.
Licensing board convener Louise Young said: “I don’t find myself in as reassured a position as I wanted to be by this stage.
“I am concerned about management, and I feel it has been a bit too lacking here, and too relaxed and unstructured.
“How it has been handled in the aftermath of that has left me with quite significant concern, whether it was a theft or a sale out of hours.”
Councillors agreed to refuse a new occasional licence for the premises.
Cllr Young told the shop owner and the applicant: “You can choose at any point to submit a new application for occasionals.
“I would encourage that, based on the sentiments of the board, things are put in place to improve the situation before you do that.”
By Joseph Sullivan Local Democracy Reporter
