Police warn off-licences

Police in Rochdale are warning off-licences to abide by their conditions or be punished.

It comes after Taz’s off-licence on Bridge Street, Heywood, was fined £1,500 for failing to comply with the conditions of its licence despite warnings about their need for fully operational CCTV cameras.

Management from Taz’s had also failed to put up ‘Challenge 21’ posters and the store was consequently fined on 17 June after admitting three breaches of their licence.

They were fined £500 for each offence and ordered to pay £50 costs.

Daisy Edwards, licensing officer for Rochdale Division, said: “We take law breaking seriously and hope this demonstrates to everyone that if licensed premises fail to act upon our warnings, the authorities will come down hard.

“Pubs, clubs and off-licences play an important role in this town but we will not tolerate ones that are poorly managed. We will continue to work with our partners such as the local authority and the public to reduce crime and anti-social behaviour. We will also continue to target those causing the greatest problems for our town."