North Wales watchdogs crack down on underage drinking at Easter

Mar 18 2010 by David Powell, North Wales Weekly News

PUBS caught selling booze to 15 and 16-year-old girls have had their licences suspended.

A major operation to crack down on underage drinking last week saw two pubs in Colwyn Bay and Abergele have their licences suspended for a week or more.

The venues were caught out by Operation Punnet, run jointly by North Wales Police with Conwy County Council.

Test purchasers, all girls aged 15 and 16, were sent to try to buy alcoholic drinks in December and January, supervised by undercover police.

The Central Hotel, on Station Road, Colwyn Bay, has been told by the council’s licensing authority that it can’t sell alcohol for two weeks after staff were twice caught selling to the test purchasers.

The panel also suspended the licence of The Bull Hotel in Abergele for a week after it also served underage customers on several occasions.

The committee took into account that the Bull had already served a 48-hour closure period on February 26 and 27.

The Imperial Hotel in Station Road in Colwyn Bay had been caught selling alcohol to young people twice in December, but because the tenancy of the licensee had been terminated, the committee felt sufficient action had been taken by the brewery J W Lees and Co, and so no further action was needed.

After the hearings, Sergeant Paul Williams of North Wales Police said: “We want to make sure these premises operate in a manner which will protect children from harm.”

Central Hotel licensee John Brooke told the sub-committee: “They must have been dressed up to look older than they were.”

Licensing enforcement officer Roly Schwarz said using that excuse was unacceptable when other pubs had turned down the same underage girls on the same evening.