An Edinburgh newsagent has permanently lost its ability to sell alcohol following a breach of licensing conditions on Hogmanay and subsequent issues with police and council interventions. The Hanover Street Londis premises, which had been operating on a series of temporary licences, faced a licensing board meeting where councillors heard detailed accounts of non-compliance.
The core issue stemmed from an incident on Hogmanay when police observed a staff member selling alcohol at approximately 11:20pm, well past the permitted 10pm closing time for alcohol sales. This observation initiated a series of inquiries and visits by law enforcement and local authority officials.
Police Scotland officers made multiple attempts to review CCTV footage of the Hogmanay incident, visiting the premises four times without success. During a fifth visit, officers discovered that the camera terminal displayed “no disc”, a message not previously seen.
Police Sergeant Grant Robertson highlighted concerns regarding the shop’s responsiveness. He stated:
“On police visits, the police licensing team have assessed there’s been a lack of cooperation from the venue.”
Sgt Robertson further added:
“No explanation has been given by staff or the applicant as to why CCTV footage was no longer available.”
Beyond the CCTV issues, Sgt Robertson noted that no staff member on duty during police visits was able to produce an occasional licence, nor was anyone with managerial responsibility present. A legally required notice prohibiting alcohol sales to individuals under 18 was also absent during any police visit, which constitutes a criminal offence.
An officer from the council licensing team corroborated the absence of the under-18s notice, confirming they had provided one to the shop during an initial visit. The council officer also reported that it took four visits for the business to rectify identified pricing irregularities and that the premises were unresponsive to email communications from the service.
Alastair Macdonald, a licensing solicitor representing the shop owners and applicant Prabhjat Singh, initially presented an alternative explanation for the Hogmanay incident. He described the staff member’s reaction after interrogation:
“His reaction to that is that ‘I didn’t sell any alcohol, it must have been stolen’.”
Mr Macdonald further claimed that thefts were a problem that evening. He said:
“In fact, there were several thefts that evening, one of which happened when the police were actually there.”
However, the solicitor eventually conceded the point regarding the sale observed by police. Mr Macdonald stated:
“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 concluded:
“I think , the police say there was a sale, we have accepted there was a sale. I don’t know why it happened. It was Hogmanay.”
The newsagent had been operating under its 54th consecutive occasional licence when the incident occurred. This reliance on temporary licences was attributed to the premises’ failure to submit a revised layout plan to the council, a requirement to secure a provisional premises licence. Information on alcohol licensing in the capital can be found via Edinburgh Council alcohol licensing.
The decision by the licensing board means the Hanover Street Londis can no longer sell alcoholic beverages, marking a significant outcome for a business that had been under scrutiny for an extended period regarding its compliance with licensing regulations and cooperation with authorities like Police Scotland.
