Off licence owners appeal booze ban after Bracknell council decision

S&S Food and Wines, formerly known as Bracknell Wines on Market Street, was forbidden from selling booze for three months after police alleged street drinkers repeatedly bought alcohol from the store.

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But shop managers will be allowed to sell lager, wine and spirits - for now - after they appealed the council’s decision to stop them.

This means judges at Berkshire Magistrates’ Court will make their own decision on whether the off-licence did not fulfil its licence requirements based on evidence from Thames Valley Police (TVP) and from shopkeepers.

While shopkeepers wait for a decision - likely to be made at Reading Magistrates’ Court - they will be allowed to sell booze to customers.

TVP investigated the store after two officers were assaulted by drunk men at the start of last year, having supposedly bought a bottle of vodka from the off-licence in the middle of the day.

Police officers recorded more than 30 street-drinking incidents allegedly linked to the store in 2019.

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At Bracknell Forest Council’s (BFC) licensing panel hearing on October 3, TVP licensing chief Gary Clarke said the force believed off-licence owners had “displayed a disregard for the licensing objective.”

Despite this, a lawyer representing the store’s owner said there was “no surety” Bracknell Wines had sold the booze to the street drinkers from TVP’s recorded incidents, and added he had “cooperated with the responsible authorities every time.”

BFC bosses made the decision to suspend the off-licence from selling alcohol for three months, and ordered owners to appoint a new premises supervisor for the store.

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The appeal means shopkeepers will not have to comply with these orders while they wait for the judges’ decision.