A shop that was found to be selling high-strength alcohol on which tax had not been paid has had its premises licence revoked.

The decision by councillors following a licensing sub-committee meeting last week (August 7) means Best One, on High Street, Edgware, will no longer be able to sell alcohol.

Customs officers visited the shop in May and found high-strength beer, chewing tobacco and wine on sale at unusually low prices.

It later emerged this was because excise duty totalling £840 had not been paid on the products.

Councillors said they were not satisfied the licence holder, Nadarajah Rajamohan, could comply with the conditions of the licence or licensing regulations.

They ruled out suspending the licence for three months because they did not believe Mr Rajamohan would change his behaviour when the suspension expired.

Metropolitan police officer PC Francesca Downes told councillors the police did not think changes proposed by Mr Rajamohan – including stopping the sale of alcohol stronger than 6.5 per cent – would make a significant difference.

Customs officers had found non-duty paid goods on sale in the shop just six months earlier, when they visited in November 2017.

Mr Rajamohan said he was not aware the products were on sale and claimed they had been bought by his then-business partner, Yogalingham Pirasanthan.

But members of the licensing sub-committee said it was “extremely unlikely that this was an isolated incident and Mr Rajamohan must have been aware that Mr Pirasanthan had continued to purchase non-duty products”.

They added: “He is an experienced licensee and should have been aware of what products were being sold in his shop.

“It is clear that he was not checking the stock and therefore the sub-committee were not satisfied that, irrespective of his proposed conditions, he would take sufficient care.”

After considering all the evidence, the sub-committee decided to revoke the premises licence to further the licensing objectives of the prevention of crime and disorder.