A NEWPORT corner shop which “let the whole city down” by selling alcohol in black bags out of hours has had its licensing hours reduced by the council’s licensing sub-committee.

Baneswell Store will only be able to sell alcohol from 8am until 10pm after two undercover officers each bought a bottle of 20cl Glens Vodka outside of the shop’s licensing hours earlier this year.

Alastair Dearling, the council’s principal licensing officer, told the committee that officers made the purchases at the shop on Baneswell Road at 1.20am on February 6 and 1.29am on February 27.

Mr Dearling, who was told to “put the bottle in your back pocket” by a member of staff, claimed that the shop’s licence holder, Arfan Sabir, asked workers to use black bags to disguise the sales.

When he later called back to the shop to collect the CCTV tapes to prove the late night purchases had taken place, Mr Dearling was told the CCTV system had been rebooted.

In actual fact, according to Mr Dearling, it had been deleted and the Sabirs were being “obstructive” until a review of their licensing hours was brought against them.

He said: “In some ways, Mr Sabir has taken note of the actions taken by the licensing authority and seems to be taking responsibility on site but that doesn’t condone the sale of alcohol out of hours previously.”

The shop’s owner, Mohammed Sabir, admitted the family had sold alcohol out of hours on more than two occasions.

He said: “It’s a mistake and we don’t want to lose our livelihood.

“I apologise for what’s happened. We’ll work for whatever it is - it will not happen again.”

Representing the Sabirs, their lawyer, Roger James, believed customers would not be tempted to buy alcohol if it was not on display.

He said: “They now intend to shut the shop so only goods like crisps or bread would be sold through the hatch. There would be no temptation to go in the shop and see the alcohol.”

The vice-chairman of the sub-licensing committee, John Guy, said he was “very disappointed” with the Sabirs’ failure to comply with the licensing laws.

He said: “What comes through to me is the fact that you’ve just exploited a situation and conspired to not conform to the rules.

“You’ve let everyone down, you’ve let us down and let the whole of the city down.”

After taking 20 minutes to come to their decision, the licensing sub-committee imposed the following sanctions:

• Instead of 8am-12am on Sunday-Thursday and 8am-1am on Friday and Saturday, the shop’s licensing hours will now be 8am-10pm Monday-Sunday.

• All alcohol must be clearly labelled

• Clear bags for the purchase of alcohol