A SOUTHAMPTON shop is facing a licence review after almost 200 bottles of illicit alcohol were seized.

Customs and trading standards officers swooped on Best-One in St Mary Street last year and seized 196 bottles that were either without duty stamps or had suspected counterfeit labels.

And the store is also in hot water after cans of lager were sold to a 15-year-old boy on another occasion.

Licence holder Ahmad Khushdil will now face the city council’s licensing committee on Thursday to see if he will have his licence suspended for a month.

On September 24, 121 litres of spirits, including vodka and whisky, were seized which had fake duty stamps, as well as other spirits which did not have stamps. Another 97.5 litres of wine, believed to be non duty paid, were also seized, as well as 450g of non duty paid tobacco.

Mr Khushdil said that some of the alcohol had been sold to him by a wholesaler who had visited his shop, and other items were inherited from when he took over the licence in May, while the tobacco had been purchased from a friend who had bought it in London.

Trading standards officers have applied for a review of the shop’s licence on the grounds of preventing crime and disorder.

Hampshire Constabulary and trading standards officers also conducted a test purchase operation on November 27, during which four cans of lager were sold to a 15-year-old boy by Mr Khushdil’s brother.

Solicitors acting on behalf of Mr Khushdil said that the licence holder was “deeply ashamed by his actions”, saying he believed that the wholesaler who came to his shop was legitimate and had presented a VAT invoice. They added that his brother had “no reason to believe the test purchaser was under the age of 18 by their appearance”, and that he only works infrequently at the shop.

Trading standards officials want the shop’s licence to be suspended for a month, and for Mr Khushdil to keep records of all alcohol and tobacco purchases for 24 months.

Hampshire Constabulary also wants a ‘Challenge 25’ policy to be implemented, more staff training, a refusals book to be kept and for a new CCTV system to be installed.

Mr Khushdil’s solicitors say that he accepts the conditions on CCTV, training and a refusals log, but that suspending the premises’ licence would have “severe financial consequences for him”.

No one from the shop was available for comment.