A convenience store stripped of its alcohol licence for selling a vape to a 13-year-old has withdrawn its bid for a new one.
Herne Bay Food Centre in High Street applied for its licence to be reinstated after Canterbury City Council revoked it last year.
Reports were received saying Herne Bay Food Centre had sold alcohol and vapes to underage teens. Picture: Google
The licensing sub-committee was due to hear the application on August 27, but it was withdrawn after trading standards said the ‘new’ boss had been running the business all along.
The original licence was removed in November 2024 after a trading standards test purchase found a 13-year-old volunteer was able to buy a vape without being asked for identification.
During the same inspection, officers discovered 36 illegal vapes and a suitcase containing 4,000 smuggled Turkish cigarettes in a yard behind the shop.
Trading standards had also received previous complaints about the business, including one that said it sold vodka to teens.
After the licence was removed from the holder, Murat Bicer, his business partner, Yildizkaya Suleyman, soon applied for a new one.
Herne Bay Food Centre was accused of ‘merely updating paperwork’ after the previous licence was revoked. Picture: Google
But KCC Trading Standards claimed Mr Suleyman was the ‘de facto boss’ at the time of the breaches, and should not be trusted.
Operations manager James Whiddett said in a report: “During a recorded interview carried out on September 5, 2024, Suleyman described himself as the premises licence holder before correcting himself to say he wasn’t sure who, out of himself and Bicer, held the licence.
“He would go on to say, when asked who the designated premises supervisor was, that “always I’m there, I’m the one”, in spite of Bicer actually holding this position.
“This has been a family business, and paperwork has merely been updated recently to reflect who has truly been in charge and deflect from the previous licence revocation.
“Suleyman is no less culpable than Bicer and has demonstrated a total disregard for the licensing objectives.
“This is not a case of considering ‘can he uphold the objectives?’, rather one where he has already demonstrated that he is either unwilling or unable to uphold them; therefore, the recommendation of trading standards is that this application is refused.”
An investigation was carried out over several months by the authority, and began with an anonymous report suggesting that Herne Bay Food Centre was selling illegal cigarettes in January 2021.
Herne Bay Food Centre has withdrawn its licensing bid. Picture: Google
After more complaints, staff visited the shop and reminded them how to run their business correctly, including Challenge-25 procedures.
Two further reports were received in August 2022 and January 2023, so trading standards once again visited and reminded staff of their responsibilities.
But after yet more complaints of young people buying nicotine and booze in the area, the test-purchase operation was carried out on July 23, 2024.
Recalling the visit, Mr Whiddett said: “The male behind the counter sold the vape without question.
“The sale was directly observed by a trading standards officer who confirmed that no attempt was made to verify the age of the girls.
“Under the sales counter, 36 ‘WGA Pro Max’ vapes were identified as being illegal for sale in the UK due to their containing over 2ml of nicotine-containing liquid.
“A door at the rear of the store room area led to steps down to a yard area within which was the bin for commercial waste and a suitcase which, when opened, was found to contain 4,000 illegal cigarettes.”
At a revisit in August, officers were told by Mr Bicer’s brother that he was in Turkey, and that he lived abroad and only visited the shop about once a year.
Since June 1, Mr Bicer has resigned from his role as director of the company.
Canterbury City Council’s licensing sub-committee revoked the original licence at a hearing in November.
The authority has confirmed that the application, which was due to be discussed at a meeting on July 30, has been withdrawn.
Herne Bay Food Centre has been contacted for comment.