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Liverpool City Council has obtained a closure order for Speke Mini Mart, located at 125 Alderwood Avenue, following extensive evidence of continued involvement in selling illicit cigarettes and tobacco products. Despite numerous warnings and enforcement actions, the shop persisted in these illegal activities.
The case was developed by the council’s Public Protection Team in close collaboration with Merseyside Police and the Council’s Community Safety Team. Over the span of a year, officers conducted multiple undercover test purchases, each resulting in the acquisition of counterfeit or non-duty paid cigarettes. Staff at the store consistently retrieved prohibited stock from a hidden area at the back of the premises, ignoring four written warnings and verbal advisories.
A significant breakthrough occurred during a coordinated enforcement day with Merseyside Police, when officers searched a flat situated directly above the shop. Inside, they discovered bags of illicit cigarettes and tobacco along with a large amount of empty counterfeit packaging. The flat also contained the CCTV system monitoring the shop, revealing it was being used as both a storage location for illegal goods and a control center for watching the store’s surveillance.
Altogether, thousands of illegal cigarettes and multiple pouches of counterfeit tobacco were confiscated, with a total retail value estimated to exceed £1,600. Commenting on the closure, Cllr Harry Doyle, Cabinet Member for Public Health, noted concerns from local residents about feeling unsafe due to gangs gathering outside the shop at night and the connection to the sale of illicit tobacco. The closure order will bar entry to Speke Mini Mart until 4pm on 12 June 2026, aiming to enhance community safety, reduce anti-social behavior, and support legitimate businesses in the area
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