A Bury town centre shop’s licence is to be reviewed after a 14-year-old girl’s parents alleged she was found ‘inebriated’ after buying a litre bottle of vodka there.
A panel of councillors is set to consider a request from licensing officers to revoke the alcohol licence related to Express Mini-Market, Bolton Street, Bury after what they claim to be ‘multiple breaches and the consequent risk to the public, including the safety of children’.
Documents published by Bury council ahead of the licence review, due to be heard on November 4, reveal details of a recent complaint that the authority received relating to Express Mini-Market.
The statement, by Laura Bell, the council’s deputy licensing officer, said: “A complaint was received by the licensing department on August 28 from the step-dad of a 14-year-old girl who had been found by her parents inebriated through the consumption of alcohol, the previous evening.
“She informed her parents that she had purchased a litre bottle of vodka and two disposable vapes from Express Mini Market in Bury town centre. She stated that she had purchased it herself without any ID.”
The statement added that CCTV from the shop of the time period in question was requested by both the council and an officer from Greater Manchester Police but on September 2 a ‘member of staff said he had not downloaded the CCTV saying it was too much to do and he didn’t know how to do it’.
The statement said the following day the premises was visited where a police officer accessed the CCTV system after it was found to be unlocked of a password.
The statement said: “The hard drive had been wiped and there were no recordings on the system for the whole of August. The system had started recording again at 8pm on September 2.
“Due to this I am unable to further investigate the complaint I had received. This goes against the objectives of protection of children from harm and prevention of crime and disorder.”
The statement also contained details of a complaint received by the council in May this year that male who appeared to be under 18 was allegedly seen coming out of the premises with a bottle of vodka. Again a CCTV request for the time period in question was given to the shop supervisor.
Like the later incident , CCTV had not been downloaded as per request, but a small snapshot was available to view on a mobile phone. Officers were unable to find footage showing the male coming out of the shop with the CCTV provided.
Another example of an alleged potential breach of licence was catalogued in the statement as happening in May 2024.
It said: “Licensing enforcement officers witnessed a group of eight males and females who appeared to be very young, approximately 12-14 years old, directly outside the premises vaping.
“As we entered the shop two young females around the same age were lingering in the doorway waiting for us to leave.”
The statement concluded that the licence holder had ignored ‘numerous warnings and advice on previous occasions with regards to his responsibilities’.
It said: “Despite this he continues to breach the conditions of his licence showing no regard for the objectives of the licensing act.
“Therefore, this leaves no option but to now seek the revocation of his alcohol licence through this review application.”
At the time of publication, no response had been received from Express Mini-Market to requests for comment.
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