Interactive webcast player

Licensing Sub-Committee
Thursday, 3rd September 2026 at 7:00pm

 
Share this agenda point

whether Mr Bassett can put a camera around so that we can see him.
Thank you. The meeting is also live when you're ready.
Fantastic. Okay, well, welcome to this meeting of the Licencing Subcommittee, which is being
held as a remote meeting. This meeting is being webcast, so please bear with us if there are any
technical issues. My name is Councillor Mitten, I'm chairing this meeting. I'll now invite the
other attendees to introduce themselves in the following order. So if we can have Councillors
first, then officers, then applicants and then representations.
I'm Councillor Fisher, I'm a Councillor in St Mary's Ward in Wandsworth and member of
the Licencing Subcommittee. I'm Councillor Lewis, I'm a Councillor in
I'm Roseanne Ward and I'm a member of the Licencing Subcommittee.
Hello, my name's Deborah Bragg, I'm the Licencing Manager for the Regulatory Services Partnership.
I'm Guy Bishop, I'm the Legal Advisor to the Licencing Subcommittee.
I'm Michael Flowers, Democratic Service Officer and I'm Clerk for the meeting.
I'm John McGann, Senior Licencing Officer for Regulatory Services Partnership and I've
brought about this review application.
Fantastic. And then the applicant, would you like to quickly introduce yourself?
Yeah, Mr. Ahmad, Alhamdulillah.
I'm Ranjiv Sarahal, I'm Senior Fair Trading Standards Officer representing Trading Standards.
I'm Beth Battles, Trading Standards Apprentice.
Fantastic. Okay, if that's everything, I'll move on to Agenda Items 1 and 2. Are there any apologies
for absence or decorations of interest for any items on the agenda.
Chair, I'll just confirm on the agenda, it did mention Councillor Lawless. He's not attending
tonight but he's been substituted by Councillor Lewis, who is a full member of the Licencing
Committee and therefore able to sit on this meeting.
Fantastic. Thank you. In that case, happy to move to item four, where we'll now consider
the application for a review of premises licence in respect to the premises known as Stonehenge
Food and Wine 7, Lower Richmond Road, London, SW 15 1EJ. I now invite the licencing officer
to introduce the application. Thank you, Chair. The Licencing Authority
submitted a review of the premises licence as held by Mr Abdul Hamid Hamidi for Stone
Edge, Fodunline, Sevelo, Richmond Road, London, Estabule, 151 EGA. On the ground, the licence
holder has failed to meet the licencing objectives of prevention of primary disorder and protection
of children from harm, following two failed test purchases for underage sales as organised
by the Council's Trading Standards team. In accordance with Regulation 38 of the Licencing
Act 2003 premises licences and club premises certificates regulations 2005. The responsible
authorities were sent a copy of the application for the review at the same time as it was provided
to the licensee. In addition, the application was advertised in premises at the council offices
in the town hall foyer and on the council's website from the 7th of July 2026 until the 3rd
apologies have been received during the consultation period. I refer the subcommittee
to paragraphs 15 to 17 of the committee report which outline the options that are open to you
when deciding this review. However, the licencing team are requesting that the committee consider a
revocation of the licence due to the fact that the premises has failed 200 HS purchases within
a relatively short period which demonstrates a significant and repeated failure to uphold
licencing objective of protecting children from harm alongside persistent breaches of
several licencing conditions, including those specifically imposed by the Licencing Sub -Committee
on 8 July 2025 to mitigate concerns when the licence was originally granted.
On 25 August 2026, a further inspection took place at the premises and continual breaches of
conditions were found and a third warning letter has been issued to the premises licence holder
on the 26th of August.
And this letter has been circulated
as part of a supplementary item to the agenda.
Councillors, I've laid out the brief facts
of the review application,
but I will be happy to answer any questions you may have.
Thank you, Chair.
Fantastic. Thank you.
Does the subcommittee have any questions
for the licencing officer?
Nothing from me.
In that case I'll now move on and invite the applicant to address the subcommittee.
You will have five minutes to speak after which questions may be asked to you.
So over to you.
Chair, members of the subcommittee, good evening.
My name is John McGann, Senior Licencing Officer for the Regulatory Services Partnership, and
I appear before you on behalf of the Licencing Authority in support of this review application.
The case concerns a pattern of serious and repeated failures at Stonehenge Food and Wine
to uphold the licencing objectives, most notably the prevention of crime and disorder and the
protection of children from harm.
Despite multiple inspections, formal warnings and opportunities to rectify matters, the evidence before you demonstrates continued non -compliance,
too underage alcohol sales and a persistent disregard for conditions specifically imposed to safeguard the public.
I will take members through the evidence and explain why the Licencing Authority considers revocation of the premises licence to be both necessary and proportionate.
The premises was granted a premises licence on the 8th July 2025, following a licencing
subcommittee hearing. The licence was granted subject to comprehensive package of conditions
covering CCTV, incident recording, Challenge 25, staff training and restrictions on high -strength
alcohol. On 30th April 2026, the licence was transferred to Mr Abdul Hamidi, Hamid Hamidi,
However, the original applicant and licence holder Mr Naeem Sadeghi remained the designated
premises supervisor and retained responsibility for the supervision of alcohol sales.
While the premises licence was transferred from Mr Sadeghi to Mr Hamidi, there has not
been a complete separation from the original applicant.
Mr Sadeghi who successfully obtained the licence continues to have day -to -day responsibility
for the authorised sale of alcohol through his ongoing role as a designated premises supervisor.
He is also the leaseholder of the premises. The first underage sale was on the 17th of April
2026, where trading standards carried out a test purchase operation. The volunteer purchased a
bottle of Guinness for an extra stout at 7 .5 % ABV without being challenged for identification.
This sale has been further aggravated by the fact that it also breached Condition 9 of
the premises licence which prohibits the sale of single Beers Largas or sites above 6%.
Pages 23 and 24 of the hearing bundle contain the witness statement of Senior Fair Trading
Officer Ranjith Sohal. Members' attention is particularly drawn to paragraph 4 where
The Officer states that when Trading Standards returned to the premises after the sale, the
salesperson who sold the alcohol refused to provide his name and instead produced the
personal licence identification of Mr Saheem Sadeghi.
Members are also asked to note paragraph 7 of the statement which states that following
the failed test purchase, Trading Standards wrote to Mr Sadeghi offering advice and guidance
and invited him for engagement to a meeting at Merton Civic Centre. No response was received.
These matters are important because they demonstrate both a lack of accountability and a failure
to engage constructively with the responsible authority, following a serious licencing offence.
I then conducted a licencing inspection and found numerous breaches of the licencing conditions.
CCTV failures, no incident logged, no training records, no Challenge 25 signage, no refusals
registered and the sale of prohibited high strength single cans. I issued that first
warning letter. Despite the warning letter and advice previously provided,
trading standards conducted a second test purchase. Again, alcohol was sold to an underage
volunteer or butler of Pironi Lager with ABV of 5%. This evidence of this sale is contained
within the witness statement of Betbourels. Members should note that the Section 1A2 guidance
specifically addresses persistent sales of alcohol to children. The guidance states that
where persistent sales of alcohol to children have occurred and effective due diligence
has not been exercised, responsible authorities should consider a review to be the norm and
licencing authorities should consider revocation where appropriate. I then did a second inspection
on the 30th June and importantly this inspection did not identify new breaches, it identified
the exact same breaches as the first inspection. Then prior to this hearing I did a third inspection
on the 25th of August. By this stage the review application had already been submitted and
the premises was fully aware of the seriousness of the licencing authorities concerns. However,
significant breaches remained and a third warning letter was issued.
The conditions that were breached were very important conditions and polls when the licence
was originally granted following a hearing. They were offered as part of the application's
operating schedule and agreed with police and trading standards during the consultation
period. They were specifically designed to promote the licencing objectives and to prevent
exactly the type of failures that have occurred. Paragraph 11 .18 of the Section 182 Guidance
makes clear that warnings requiring improvements have already been issued and failed Licencing
Licencing Authority should not simply repeat the approach and should take that history
into account when determining what further action is appropriate, hence the reason for
the review application. In this case there have been three inspections, three formal
warning lessons, two fail test approaches, sales and continuing breaches. The Licencing
formal intervention have already been exhausted.
So in conclusion the evidence demonstrates two confirmed under age sales repeated breaches
of conditions, continued management failings and lack of engagement with the Trading Standards
Officers.
Paragraph 11 .28 of the Section 182 guidance states that where premises are found to be
trading irresponsibly, licencing authorities should not hesitate to take tough action and
where other measures are insufficient, revocation should be seriously considered. Given the
repeated under -age sales, persistent licence breaches, repeated failures following intervention
and the absence of meaningful improvement, the Licencing Authority respectfully submits
that revocation of the premises licence is an appropriate and proportionate step available
to the subcommittee.
I, along with the two trading standards officers who participated in the failed test purchase
operations remain available to answer any questions the committee may have and to provide
any additional information.
Thank you, Chair.
Fantastic.
Thank you.
I now hand over to the subcommittee to ask questions of the applicants.
so Councillor Fisher and Councillor Lewis did you have any any questions?
Councillor Fisher. Thank you Chair and to Mr McGann just to confirm was there any improvement at all
of the breaches that you had identified in the first visit in your subsequent visits?
In the first and second visit there were the exact same breaches Councillor but in the third
visit there was only one improvement and that's the fact that Mr Hamidi was able
to operate the CCTV.
Thank you.
Councillor Lewis.
This may be by the by, but in the documents it suggested that some of the visits were prompted by reports that had been received, that the premises were operating and trading outside.
there allotted as and I was wondering if there had been any further investigation of that?
It was difficult to do the initial investigation because CCTV wasn't available, nobody was
able to operate it. There were reports that the shop was suspected to be selling alcohol
to young children. So that become a priority to get trading standards involved and conduct
test purchase operations. Thank you.
I do have a very quick clarification point and apologies you ran through the number of
contact points and notifications that you have given to the licence holder. Could I just double
cheque the number of contacts that you have had in order to raise these concerns?
So like the visits, letters, just so I could get a total number and then it'd be good to get a
clarification on how many numbers of engagement you've had from the licence holder, so how many
times they've responded. Initially when we get any allegations that shops are selling
I call to children, I will get in touch with a trading standards team leader and ask if
they can do a test purchase. When a test purchase is done they'll report back to me saying it
was fine or it was a failed test purchase. If there was a failed test purchase like there
was with this, I will then do a licencing inspection to raise awareness and then try
identify any breaches on the premises licence. Following all those
breaches, Reading Standards did a second test purchase operation and the exact
same breaches, Councillor, and I did that with another follow -up. During those
follow -ups we're trying to give advice, we're trying to educate, we're trying to
get them to comply with a licence and because of the gap between the second
inspection to the hearing. I went back last week to see if they had turned it around.
Unfortunately the only improvement they had made was the CCTV. But there has been lots
of engagement. I have spoken with Mr Hamidi over the telephone, I have spoken with Mr
a daisy over the telephone and we have done our best to try and get the shop to
be compliant councillor. That's helpful thank you.
Were there any more questions from the subcommittee?
Chancellor Fisher. Thank you chair. So aside the engagement over the telephone, there's been no written
responses to the letters of any of the written correspondence? Well there has been one
email from Mr Sadeghi saying that he's had a falling out from Mr Hamidi
and had gone through solicitors to try and sort that out but Mr Hamidi
might be able to give more details on that.
Okay. Did you get another question Councillor Fisher?
Sorry, if there aren't any more questions from the subcommittee, I'll now hand over
to the licence holder to address the committee. In order to make this fair, the applicant
had about seven and a half minutes to speak so I'm going to give you the the equivalent opportunity
Mr Hamidi to to address the committee so over over to you.
Mr Hamidi this is your opportunity to address the committee.
mute. Good evening. I actually just saw all the things that I talked to Mr. John as well.
When I started I take the shop. I said I don't have experience for these things
but first of all first time the child is coming this time I think new it's not
been belong to me. This been belong Mr. names Lucas. Yeah this the second time
It's my mistake because she one time is come for it with mom together and that day is coming
I ask as well as ideas world, but they say remember I come with my with mom and that's why it's my big mistake
I trust that once I give the one wheel and
something you take and that's one after that is come to say I come with a
Trainer start that and I my big mistake and actually I talked to mr. John. I don't want it. I sell the alcohol
I never do this business. I don't want it. They do the alcohol and I take the massage to the case
We'll take the all alcohol. I don't want this these things. This is not my business. I don't have I
don't have a
what they call a
Experience for the the alcohol these things and at the moment as well
I don't want it sell the alcohol in this month's I tell to massage it
He come take all all the alcohol these things. I don't do this this business
The grocery shop is okay for me just like crest, whip and these things is okay, but otherwise I don't do these things
This one my mistake I give for the child and the first of all the
Mr. Sudaki worker, he do this one, but he's come for my name
But Mr. John, you know about these things everything I choose Mr. John
I explain to Mr. John as well, but they know the late signs is called when Mr.
John asked me for lessons and the lessons worker is bringing to me
yesterday this bringing for me all this document is bringing me in
the lessons world and everything Mr. Johnny put in the window this I put
already can I assure windows world as I show everything.
don't have any accidents that
doing. It's like that if you
if you're happy for us toe move
to CDs and questions, then we
we can, but I just want to give
this opportunity if there is
anything else that you wanted to say, you will have an opportunity at the end of the
meeting to make some final remarks to the committee.
I don't have nothing in order to talk right now. My big mistake is my big mistake. Sorry
about that. Next time I didn't do it. And actually I don't want it more sale alcohol
and the things I give to Mr. Naim back, that's it.
Okay.
Nothing else to add, then I will hand over
to the subcommittee for clarification,
any clarification questions that you might have.
Councillor Fisher.
Thank you, Chair.
So Mr. Naim, I didn't quite follow your final point
about your win day.
did you he said something to the wind day i think might follow that would you mind clarifying
i think you put the notice up sorry the licence up in the
in the window is that right mr mccain
i think from my experience of dealing with mr hampedy especially in the last um visit the
Post two visits he had not challenged 25 posters up and in the one last week he had a challenge 25 poster on the outside window facing out onto the street.
Although the condition on the licence says they need to be at the point of sale.
But I'll give him a little bit of credit that he had an actual sign up on the third visit but not on the previous two.
I'm not correct Mr Amedi that that's what you're referring to the challenge 25 poster
yeah yes yes thank you yeah thank you very much thank you
thanks for the lewis did you have a question no thank you
so just one further point of clarification so that failed test purchase that you say
you were responsible for was a child, he's previously come in with their mother and you sold alcohol to them, was it being with their mother or to their mother was they'd been with a child and then the second time, the child just came in on their own, and you sold it to them on the basis that they had previously come in with their mother, and you sold it.
Yeah, this is the first time is my big mistake I do this things I'm just I ask for she is
world I say a document say my document in home remember I come with my mom and like
one months before is it that one is gone with what his mom he takes some water and something
That's why I trust the one but it's my big mistake. This first time is my big mistake.
Yeah, this one my mistake this one. Yes, I know that
Sorry about that
Okay, if there aren't any more
questions from
The subcommittee. I'll now invite those making representations to address the subcommittee
um equally to make it oh got hand up miss brag
it's brag you've got your hand up
jeremy okay to ask a question is that okay yes do you understand what the four licencing objectives
are do you understand the law when it comes to your responsibilities? Did you get a personal licence?
Yes. So to get that personal licence you would have had to do the qualification to understand
the law?
Do you understand the law when it comes to the Licencing Act and your responsibilities?
Can you explain that to members what you believe your responsibilities are?
Yeah, it's my responsibility just now, after this minimum 18 years old I can sell some
alcohol something without this 18 is less like 17, 16 I never do these things never
this my responsibility just maybe they are selling like way
as well I can sell for the minimum 18 years everything is right 18 years over
I can give but the alcohol is special alcohol I never do the business the
alcohol but this is my responsibility I'd never do these things
I just wanted to clarify that Mr Niedi mentioned the volunteers saying that they had come with
their mother before, both volunteers when they were sent in the first time and the second
time they were different volunteers, they were not the same person and plus that was
first time they had been in those premises and as far as I know, and Beth can clarify this because
she was in the premises at the time of the second cell, the volunteer at no time said that they had
been in with their mother. Okay thank you. I'll give this opportunity for those making
representations to address the committee. Mr Fliers, can I just double -cheque those who
are making representations?
Yes, thank you. We've got Mr Carabassi, who is in the meeting room, and just for the purposes
of transparency, the other individual isn't able to attend the meeting, but obviously
they've written representation, you've got and you can ask questions about that to parties
in attendance.
Thank you. Mr. Abbasi, over to you.
Good evening, members of the chair and committee. I have submitted my written representation
requesting the revocation of the Stonehenge Food and Wine licence. I respectfully ask the
committee to consider the evidence and concerns set out in my representation and to revoke
the premises licence. I have nothing further to add at this stage, but I'm happy to answer
any questions from the committee. Thank you very much.
Fantastic. Thank you, Mr. Abasi. I hand this to the subcommittee to ask any questions of
clarification of Mr. Abbasi. Councillor Fisher.
Thank you, Chair. May I just clarify, Mr. Abbasi, you say you witnessed late night sales of
alcohol often until 3am. Just so we can better understand, how many times approximately have
seen that happen or is it just the ongoing, ongoing currents most evenings when you've been awake at that time?
Okay, they almost every day because they were late thus the trading hours as well because the hours
are till 11 but they open the shop till three o 'clock almost every day and they sell the licence
almost every day till 3 o 'clock. I saw them so many times and I have a video
which I send to the community I think and every day they do these
things. So you see people come out of the shop with... Of course, yes.
I saw so many times, yes.
They were trading hours as well because the hours were 3, I think 11, but they
till open till three o 'clock, sometimes two o 'clock, three o 'clock every day.
And you also refer to the two underage sales. How do you know those individuals were underage?
And I don't know about that, but I know they opened the shop very late. But of course,
the sales are delayed as well because so many people come and they sell their underage,
I'll call it, people.
I'm sorry, I misread. I think the other is actually referring to the trading standards report. Thank you.
Councillor Lewis, you had your hand up. I did, but I decided that actually
it has been covered and I'm happy with what I've read. Thank you, Mr Barsey.
I don't have any questions of clarification for Mr Abassi, so thank you for attending
and addressing the licencing subcommittee. I'll now invite each party to provide any
closing remarks they'd like to submit. This should be limited to maximum two minutes.
I will first invite those making representations followed by the premises licence holder and
then the applicant to address the licencing subcommittee.
So Mr. Abbasi, if you did want to use this as an opportunity to say anything else, then
you have up to two minutes.
Thank you.
Okay, thank you.
In that case I'll move to Mr. Hamidi. Up to two minutes to address the committee.
Yes, me? Correct. Yeah, just actually the gentleman said, yes I take the photo
till three o 'clock like this. That one actually before I take the shop there
Mr. Naimz, you can say my lessons after three o 'clock like this, but I trust him.
When Mr. John come and put the time there,
now I do Monday to Thursday, 10 to 11,
the alcohol 10 to 11, but otherwise,
this my grocery shopping drinks are water soft drink
after 12 o 'clock.
And Friday night, yes, the alcohol is closing 12 o 'clock,
but closing the alcohol, everything,
but the grocery of two o 'clock, 2 .30, two o 'clock,
because this Monday, Thursday, the business very quiet.
Just Friday and Saturday, the Guru says these things is better.
When people come and ask me,
alcohol I sent to my neighbour at the other shop,
he asks, thanks, so you have lessons after 2 o 'clock, 3 o 'clock.
I send all the customers, they say go from there.
You need some soft drink, the seaweed, these things, welcome.
But I can't sell alcohol.
When he asked me alcohol, I sent to other shop.
That is my plan.
But before the demonstration,
Siddiqui say after three o 'clock is my licence but this is cheating me and
they lie to me that's why I don't do these things but Mr. Johnny said they
put the timetable I put outside and my timetable as well 10 to 11 Monday to
Thursday and Friday Saturday 10 to 12 o 'clock
and the alcohol. There are other things like one o 'clock sometime one o 'clock
sometimes 2 o 'clock closing I never never sell alcohol these things you can
cheque for one month two months my CCTV camera when I sell these things you do
anything you want to do by not short any things thank you very much
Thank You Mr. Hamidi and now I hand over to the applicant who have up to two
minutes to address the committee thank you chair and I don't think I'll take
that long as I did the first time. Having listened carefully to the submissions made
today I have not heard any evidence that will cause me to depart from my original assessment
of this case. The evidence before the committee continues to demonstrate serious concerns
regarding compliance with the licencing objectives and accordingly I remain of the view that
revocation of the premises licence is the appropriate and proportionate course of action.
Thank you, Chair.
Thank you, Mr. McGann. Thank you. That now concludes this part of the meeting. The decision,
reasons and any legal guidance given during the subcommittee's discussion that has informed
their decision will be confirmed in writing together with information about any rights
of appeal within five working days. Members of the licencing subcommittee, Democratic
Services Officer and Legal Advisor, we will now join the separate confidential meeting
room to make the decision. Thank you to those who have attended the