A WEYMOUTH shop-owner has told how he and his family were abused following Dorset Police allegations about how the business was being run.

King Street Eats & Drinks founder Mr Naguleswaran Jayasuthan said he had been deeply upset and hurt by the police allegations which, he said, had no evidence to support them.

He said he feared that after 22 years building up the business it could be put at risk because of the claims.

More than a dozen customers had written to a Dorset Council licensing committee to support the shop continuing with its drinks licence -  most saying that shop staff were not afraid to challenge people who tried to buy alcohol when they were intoxicated.

One man, in particular, was said to be a long-standing nuisance, frequently drunk and abusive and refusing to leave the shop. He was said to have once made a threat to fire-bomb the owners’ home after being refused drink.

New conditions will now be imposed on the business as conditions of a new licence, which limit the types of alcohol which can be sold, with all other aspects of the business trading as before.

The hearing, where Police had challenged the continuation of the licence, was told of an allegation of handling stolen goods, and that a drunk man had been served with alcohol – something the husband and wife team running the business categorically denied.

On both occasions, on separate days in May, neither Mr and Mrs Jayasuthan were on the premises.

Mr Jayasuthan said he had looked through all the CCTV footage and had seen nothing in either of the incidents Dorset Police complained of, although a man was seen to come into the shop to exchange a £20 note for smaller notes and change. The shop staff had denied doing anything wrong.

The hearing was presented with positive Dorset Echo newspaper articles about the shop and its staff, going back several years. The business had also arranged home deliveries for regular customers during the Covid period and often ordered in goods requested by local customers, even though there was no profit in doing so.

Mr Jayasuthan said he had always co-operated with the Police, Licensing and Trading Standards, offering CCTV video each time it was asked for and complying with other requests.

“The abuse I’ve received is really hurting… since this was published on social media the amount of abuse I have received has been really painful… Why can’t they work with us, not against us?” he told the three Dorset councillors deciding whether or not his business should continue to be allowed to sell alcohol.

His licensing consultant Mr Naga Rajesh told the panel that if the licence was revoked it would be hard for the business to continue because off drinks sales were the foundation of much of the turn-over. He said that there had been no evidence presented by the Police to substantiate the claims and the handling stolen goods allegation remained under investigation and unproven.

During the hearing it was said that much of the problems for the business was caused by a single, street-drinker, who continued to come into the shop and abuse staff and customers even though he had been banned: Staff were powerless to remove him, other than by persuasion, and when the Police were called, they were often unable to attend.

Hoteliers in the area had passed on complaints from their guests of drunk, abusive people in the area although councillors were told there was no proof they had any connection with Eats and Drinks.

Police licensing officer Kirsty Gatehouse said that despite being asked not to sell single cans, favoured by street drinkers, the business had been reluctant to act of the advice and seemed not to appreciate the police concerns.

The new licence conditions include not selling beers, cider or larger stronger than 5.5per cent alcohol by volume; no sales of single cans or glass bottles of beer, cider, lager or alcopops with the exception of cans or bottles larger than 500ml with smaller sizes only to be sold in packs of four; no miniature spirit sales and no advertising outside the premises featuring the price of alcohol.

The store will also have to extend its CCTV system to include all areas of the business with prominent signs telling customers that closed circuit recording is taking place; the business will also have to keep an incident log and record any incidents where alcohol sales are refused.

Toilets at the back of the store, which staff had occasionally allowed customers to use, will now have to be restricted only to staff and kept locked.

P