Newbury pub has its licence suspended
The Purple Lounge, which ceased trading at the weekend, failed two separate test purchases in November and January
A NEWBURY town centre pub has been closed down for a month following recent breaches of licensing conditions.
The Purple Lounge in Bartholomew Street was the subject of a licensing review this week after failing test purchases and serving persons under the age of 18 on two separate occasions in November and January, without asking for photo identification.
On the first occasion on November 27, a 16-year-old girl and 15-year-old boy were served pints of Fosters lager, while the second incident on January 29 saw two 16-year-old girls served Smirnoff Ice drinks.
As part of the joint exercise between West Berkshire Trading Standards and Thames Valley Police, a fixed penalty notice was issued to the seller on both occasions.
However, police also claimed that two other incidents in January undermined the licensing objectives to prevent crime and disorder and protect children from harm.
In the first incident, a young girl aged 15 was found to be intoxicated outside the pub by two Police Community Support Officers (PCSOs) and on a separate occasion, a drunken male was seen to enter the premises at about 1.30am on Sunday, January 30, with no door staff present to prevent him from entering.
Sarah Lefevre, representing the pub owners Punch Taverns, said there had been no record on the pub's CCTV footage of the young girl being inside the premises on the night in question, while she said door staff had been inside the pub when the drunken man entered the premises, adding that he was refused service when inside the premises.
But she added that Punch Taverns took the failure of test purchases extremely seriously, describing the failure on two separate occasions as “totally unacceptable.”
As a result, she said, action had been taken with the existing tenants and the pub had ceased trading at the weekend.
But despite praising Punch Taverns' positive action, councillors still opted to suspend the premises licence for a period of one month and remove the current Designated Premises Supervisor from their position.
Several other conditions were amended on the Premises Licence, including the need for staff training on the law relating to underage sales and the need for at least one member of staff to be accredited to British Institute of Innkeeping Level 1 award in Responsible Alcohol Retailing.
Door staff will also be employed on Friday and Saturday nights and on Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve from 8pm until closing time, while other conditions required a register of door supervisors and a register of any incidents impacting on the licensing objectives.
After the hearing, business relations manager for Punch Taverns, Ian Pearson, said he had no issue with the findings, adding that he understood the approach that had been taken.
