The owners of a shop that lost its alcohol licence after serving vodka to underage teens have appeared in court in a bid to get the decision overturned.
Vethanayakampillai Satheeskumar, who runs the Express Store in St Peters Road, Great Yarmouth, is appealing against his premises licence being revoked earlier this year.
Angry parents reported the venue after they found their children aged as young as 13 had become unwell after becoming intoxicated.
CCTV from September that year, shown to a panel of Great Yarmouth councillors at a licensing committee meeting, captured teenage girls taking swigs from a bottle of vodka at the till.
Staff did not ask for their ID at any point.
READ MORE: Footage shows underage teens swigging vodka in shop at centre of licensing row
Another incident involved two teenage boys aged 13 and 14.
Councillors unanimously voted to revoke the shop's licence at a meeting in April this year.
Neighbours to the store had also complained that the off-licence was being "used like a pub" in objection letters made to the council as part of the licence review.
They said the shop had become a hive for antisocial behaviour, with issues continuing late into the night due to the shop being open 24 hours a day.
Representatives for the Express Store appeared at Norwich Magistrates' Court this week to appeal the decision by Great Yarmouth Borough Council.
READ MORE: Complaints of post office "being used as pub" sparks license review
According to court documents, the appellant said they feel the council's decision was "wrong" and that it was "not the correct conclusion to have reached."
Mr Satheeskumar says he has accepted responsibility and taken "immediate steps to rectify errors".
The case has been adjourned until March 27, 2026.
St Peters Road in Great Yarmouth has been the focus of a number of licence reviews in recent years for shops on the street.
There are repeated problems with antisocial behaviour, which people have blamed on the high number of stores serving alcohol in the area until late into the night.
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