Shop described as an ‘organised front for criminal activities’ loses alcohol license

Elgan Hearn, local democracy reporter

A shop described as an “organised front for criminal activities” has been stripped of its licence to sell alcohol.

At a meeting of Powys County Council’s Licensing sub-committee on Tuesday, September 23, councillors received an application to revoke the premises licence for the 7 Days Mini Store on Severn Street in Welshpool.

The licence review had been prompted by a raid this summer which found illegal cigarettes and tobacco with a street value of £5,000.

The hearing took place in the absence of the licence holder who had been “very difficult to get hold of.”

Repeated attempts to get them to appear had been made.

This included pausing the meeting for several minutes to give them a final opportunity of turning up to have their say.

Licensing Team Manager Natalie Jones explained that on July 2 a “targeted test purchase” had been conducted at the shop in which illegal cigarettes were sold.

Immigration officers

Following this, Dyfed-Powys Police, the Wales Regional Investigation Team and immigration officers all raided the premises.

During the investigation they found that the staff member that sold the cigarettes had “no legal right to work in the UK.”

A significant quantity of illegal cigarettes was also found and seized which lead to the police applying for the licence to be revoked

Ms Jones added that further objections relating to public safety and crime and disorder had been received from the council’s Trading Standards team and the Mid and West Wales Fire and Rescue Service.

Dyfed-Powys Police Licensing Officer Rod Bowen told the hearing that the designated premises supervisor is Samani Hossein who holds a personal licence which has been issued by Doncaster council.

He added that a search of Companies House confirms that the company 7 Days Mini Store Ltd is still active with Ahmadi Ali listed as its director having been appointed in April 2025.

Premises 

Mr Bowen said: “It is the police’s opinion that the premises licence holder has operated the business in a way that fails to promote the key objectives of the prevention of crime and disorder and the promotion of public safety.

“The police view is that the test purchase identified a number of offences being committed.

“The evidence found during this inspection clearly indicate that this premises is an organised front for criminal activity.”

Mr Bowen added that the police do not believe that this situation will change and the only option to address the “systematic failures” is to strip them of the licence.

The panel, chaired by Cllr Beverley Baynham (Powys Independents – Presteigne), with Cllr Josie Ewing (Liberal Democrats – Llandrindod South) and Cllr Ed Jones (Powys Independents – Old Radnor) in attendance, then retired to consider their verdict.

Upon their return, Cllr Baynham said: “Having considered the representation and evidence we’ve heard this afternoon the panel have taken the decision to revoke the premises licence.

“It is apparent that two of the licence objectives have been contravened.”

Licensing committee Solicitor Rachel Mole will now confirm the licence revocation in writing.