COUNCIL bosses have temporarily closed down a pub and barred a shop from selling alcohol after staff at both repeatedly served booze to underage teenagers.

The measures have been introduced to ensure workers can be retrained to stop youngsters getting their hands on drink.

The Royal Oak in Southampton city centre will be closed down for 48 hours so owners can ensure staff are fully trained on the importance of checking ID of any customers who look under 25- years-old to ensure no one slips through the net.

The action comes after two youngsters bought booze from a worker at the Houndwell Road pub who had received a refresher on challenging young-looking punters just three days earlier.

That training was in response to an initial police sting test purchase just weeks before, when a barmaid received an on-the-spot £80 fine for selling alcopops to two young girls, last November.

PC Hayley Channell told the Southampton City Council’s licensing sub-committee that for their age awareness training bar workers were simply told to read a small four-page leaflet and sign to say they had done so.

She said: “The two failures show that there is insufficient staff training provided at the venue.

“It is clear that staff training needs to be vastly improved from the current system in order for the venue to support the licensing objectives and prevent any future sales of alcohol to children.”

Committee chairman Cllr Brian Parnell said: “In the light of the steps required, particularly training, it’s felt that a suspension for a short period will allow staff to be trained before making sales.

“This will ensure that the training does satisfactorily address the issue of underage sales.”

The committee also heard that staff at Rafique’s Food Centre sold booze to 16 and 17-year-olds on two occasions within just over a month.

Owner Abdul Rafique has invested £3,500 on a brand new CCTV system and vowed to fully re-train the full-time and two part-time workers who run the Derby Road grocery store.

Trading Standards had called for the shop to be banned from selling booze for a month, but after Mr Rafique said that could force him to lay off staff, councillors agreed to impose a three day licence suspension.

Cllr Parnell said the “proportionate”

ban would run over a weekend, while a book which logs the occasions when staff refuse under-age customers must also be made available to inspectors.

Both businesses have a right to appeal.

Student bar 'given advice'

A STUDENT bar has been told to boost security and introduce a responsible drinking policy.

Police complained about customers being able to buy pint glasses containing four shots of vodka for as little as £2 at Clowns Wine Bar in Bevois Valley, Southampton.

Officers were also frustrated by the poor state of the CCTV facilities after being told there was no footage after a reveller was left with a serious cut to his face when a stool was thrown at him in an unprovoked attack on New Year’s Eve.

Owners told Southampton City Council’s licensing sub-committee they have invested in new cameras and have a strict policy on underage drinking, which was backed up by a teenage police test purchaser being turned away.

They added there are staff dedicated to spotting people who are pouring several shots into one glass and identifying those who have had too much to drink, who are then taken home.

Panel members rubber-stamped new licence conditions agreed between owners and police, including improving staff training and keeping a detailed incident book.