The Licensing Sub-Committee of North Northamptonshire Council met on 1 July 2025 to consider a review of the premises licence for Braces News, and to elect a chair for the meeting. The review was triggered by an application from Northamptonshire Police, citing concerns over the prevention of crime and disorder at the premises.

Review of the premises licence for Braces News

The sub-committee was scheduled to review the premises licence for Braces News, located at 99-101 Montagu Street, Kettering.

The review was initiated following an application by Northamptonshire Police, which was included as Appendix 1 - Review Application Document in the report pack. The police cited the licensing objective of the prevention of crime and disorder as the grounds for the review. PC 113 D. Bryan of Northamptonshire Police stated that he was authorised to act on behalf of the Chief Officer of Police for Northamptonshire, Mr Balhatchet.

The police application stated that the review relates to the premises being used for the sale or storage of illicit tobacco products. Section 144 of the Licensing Act 2003 makes it an offence to knowingly keep or allow to be kept, on any relevant premises, any goods which have been imported without payment of duty or which have otherwise been unlawfully imported. Section 11:27 of the Secretary of States section 182 Statutory Guidance to the Licensing Act 2003 states that there is certain criminal activity that may arise in connection with licensed premises which should be treated particularly seriously, and one activity detailed is the premises being used for the sale or storage of smuggled tobacco and alcohol.

The police application included the following incidents:

• On 5 February 2025, North Northamptonshire Trading Standards Officers seized illicit tobacco from a vehicle associated with the premises. They seized 1,119 packets of cigarettes, 110 pouches of hand rolling tobacco, and 108 vapes.
• On 25 February 2025, PC 113 Bryan and PC 575 Laren visited the premises and discovered six packets of UK non-duty paid cigarettes under the counter mixed with an amount of UK duty paid cigarettes. It was also noted that staff did not know how to operate the CCTV system, which was a breach of the premises licence conditions.
• On 22 March 2025, North Northamptonshire Trading Standards Officers visited the premises and seized illicit cigarettes, tobacco and vapes from the ceiling of a storeroom.

The police stated that the total amount of illicit packets of cigarettes from both seizures amounts to £22,500.00, the total amount of pouches amounts to £7,220.00, with the overall total being £29,720.00.

The police application also stated that on 25 November 2023 an Expedited Review process was instigated by Northamptonshire Police as it was deemed that the premises was associated with serious crime. On 8 November 2023 Officers from Northamptonshire Police and North Northamptonshire Council Trading Standards Department attended Braces News and Off-Licence during an intelligence led operation regarding the criminal activity of the sale and/or storage of illicit tobacco products. In the kitchen area of the back store room a conceal compartment (hide) was discovered containing 5104 Packets of duty not paid cigarettes, and 81 Packets of 50g Hand Rolling Tobacco. The total duty not paid was estimated at £44,891.16

The police requested that the Licensing Sub-Committee revoke the premises licence for 99-101 Montagu Street, Kettering, NN16 8XJ.

The current premises licence, Appendix 2 - Current Premises Licence_Redacted, allows the sale of alcohol for consumption off the premises from Monday to Sunday between 08:00 and 23:00. The designated premises supervisor is Hazhar Morad Ahmadi.

The location plan for the premises was also included in the report pack as Appendix 3.

The sub-committee was asked to consider the application for review from Northamptonshire Police and determine what action, if any, to take with regards to the Premises Licence. The options available to the sub-committee, as detailed in Section 52 of the Licensing Act 2003, include:

• Modifying the conditions of the licence
• Excluding a licensable activity from the scope of the licence
• Removing the designated premises supervisor
• Suspending the licence for a period not exceeding three months
• Revoking the licence

The Public reports pack also notes that the North Northamptonshire Council Statement of Licensing Policy (2022 – 2027) places a duty on the council under Section 17 of the Crime and Disorder Act 1998 to do all that it reasonably can to prevent crime and disorder in its locality and to promote the licensing objectives in the Licensing Act 2003.

Election of chair

The first item on the agenda was the election of a chair for the meeting. Councillors Howes, Humberstone and Jenney were listed as the members of the sub-committee.