The Alcohol & Gambling Licensing Sub-Committee were scheduled to convene to consider a premises licence review for Rai Convenience Store. The review was triggered by concerns raised by the Home Office Immigration Department regarding the prevention of crime and disorder. Councillors were also expected to discuss excluding the press and public from the meeting due to the presence of exempt information.

Premises Licence Review – Rai Convenience Store

The main item for consideration was an application by the Home Office Immigration Department for a premises licence review of Rai Convenience Store, 109 Main Road, Middleton Cheney OX17 2PD.

The review application was submitted on 12 August 2025, citing concerns over the failure to uphold licensing objectives related to the prevention of crime and disorder. The application stemmed from an inspection conducted at the premises on 26 November 2024, by the West Midlands Immigration, Compliance and Enforcement team (ICE team ). During the inspection, an employee was identified as an immigration offender. Further details pertaining to the inspection, including witness statements, were included in the report pack as Appendix B - Redacted.

According to the report pack, the current premises licence holder is Ravinder Singh. Mr R. Singh had submitted a licence transfer application on 14 September 2023, following a prior revocation of the licence on 1 July 2022, which was then appealed. The transfer application was granted due to a lack of objection from the police, leading to the quashing of the revocation in September 2023.

A subsequent request was received on 13 December 2023, from Mr R. Singh to transfer the premises licence back to the previous licence holder, but no application was submitted. Mr R. Singh also serves as the Designated Premises Supervisor and holds a personal licence issued by London Borough of Hillingdon – Licence number LBHIL4884.

The premises is licensed for off-premises alcohol sales from Monday to Sunday, 05:00 to 22:00. A copy of the premises licence was included in the report pack as Appendix C - Premises Licence for Rai Convenience Store 2.

As part of the review process, West Northamptonshire Council displayed notices at the premises on 13 August 2025. Charlotte Lindop, Licensing Team Leader, noted on 15 August 2025, that the notices were not displayed correctly. A report from Charlotte Lindop, along with photos, was included in the report pack as Appendix D - Report of CL 1. Nicola GoldenSmith, Licensing Officer, confirmed on 18 August 2025, that the notices were displayed.

The report pack noted that no relevant representations were received during the 28-day consultation period. However, an email was received on 20 August 2025, from Manpreet Kapoor, a licensing agent, stating that Mr R. Singh had left the premises and gone away and would not attend the hearing. Mr Kapoor also stated that the premises had gone back to landlord . A copy of this email was included in the report pack as Appendix E - Email from Manpreet Singh on behalf of LH.

All premises licences are subject to an annual fee, invoiced to the customer or licence holder. In this case, Mr R. Singh is the customer, and all invoices have been sent to him and paid. Details were included in the report pack as Appendix F - ERP customer and invoices paid.

The sub-committee was asked to consider steps to promote the four licensing objectives:

• prevention of crime and disorder
• public safety
• the prevention of public nuisance
• the protection of children from harm

The options available to the sub-committee included:

• modifying the conditions of the licence
• excluding a licensable activity from the licence
• removing the designated premises supervisor
• suspending the premises licence for a period not exceeding 3 months
• revoking the licence

The report pack stated that Immigration Enforcement requested that the premises licence be revoked.

Immigration Enforcement asks that the premises licence is revoked.

Merely remedying the existing situation (for instance by the imposition of additional conditions or a suspension) is insufficient to act as a deterrent to the licence holder and other premises' licence holders from engaging in criminal activity by employing illegal workers and facilitating disqualified immigrants to work illegally.

This submission and appended documents provide the licensing subcommittee with background arguments and information pertinent to that contention. These provide the sub-committee with a sound and defensible rationale as to why it should revoke the licence.

Exclusion of Press and Public

The sub-committee was scheduled to consider a proposal to exclude the press and public from the meeting. The reason cited was that the report contained exempt information as defined in Paragraph 1 of Part 1, Schedule 12A of the Local Government Act 1972, which relates to information about individuals.