At a special meeting of the Woking Borough Council Licensing committee, a decision was taken to suspend the license of J Sainsbury’s Ashcombe Parade, Kingfield Road, Woking, for one month.  Other conditions added to the license included the prevention of sale of alcohol between 12pm and 6pm, to protect young people from the illegal sale of alcohol as well as requiring J Sainsbury’s to construct an alcohol sales kiosk distinct from other tills.  This decision was not taken lightly and will not come into force until October, pending appeal. 

J Sainsbury’s had failed two test purchased to persons underage carried out by Surrey Trading Standards, who had been called in at the request of Surrey Police.  As the matter may still be appealed, I will not go into further details, other than to say that hopefully this will serve as a warning to other retailers to ensure they do not serve underage drinkers and as a welcome outcome to those responsible retailers already following the law.