Councillors decide on Thursday whether Kings Food & Wine loses its alcohol licence. Council and police want it revoked; knives were found at its till three times.
Reading Borough Council’s licensing team has asked councillors to revoke the alcohol licence of Kings Food & Wine, 91-93 Kings Road. Thames Valley Police backs that. The Licensing Applications Sub-Committee hears the review at 9.30am on Thursday 1 October.
The case is set out in the hearing papers, now published on the council’s meeting page. They describe two years of failed inspections at the shop. The licensing team says revocation is “the only appropriate, proportionate and effective step” open to councillors.
Nothing has been decided. The shop keeps its licence until the sub-committee rules. The licence holder can answer the case at the hearing and can appeal any decision.
We first reported the review in August, when it opened for public comment. The papers show what the council found.
What the inspections found
The shop was granted its premises licence on 10 November 2023. It allows alcohol sales from 7am to 11pm every day, under 28 conditions. According to the council’s application:
- 7 June 2024: licensing officers found the shop breaching about 20 of the 28 conditions. A member of staff selling alcohol had received no training. A storeroom of rubbish and rotting food was blocking a fire exit.
- 19 June 2024: the licence holder met licensing and environmental health officers, and accepted that many conditions were not being met.
- 26 July 2024: officers saw the shop selling alcohol outside its licensed hours.
- August 2024: breaches continued, and a large knife was found behind the counter.
- 20 September 2025: on a visit with Home Office Immigration Enforcement, officers found a knife beneath the till. One member of staff left the shop as soon as the immigration officers identified themselves.
- 24 June 2026: on a joint visit with the police, the shop was breaching 17 of the 28 conditions. Officers found another knife beneath the till, drug paraphernalia on sale, and children’s toys displayed on and around alcohol.
- 31 July 2026: on re-inspection, 13 of the 28 conditions were still being breached.
The failings named most often are missing staff training records, no refusals book or incident log, CCTV problems, missing signs, and no proof of right-to-work checks.
The application also cites a Home Office visit on 17 June 2026 to another shop run by the same licence holder. It says officers found a worker there with no right to work in the UK. The application says the worker stated he had been paid £10 to £15 a day, plus rice and beans, for 35 to 42 hours a week. That shop is not named in the papers, and the council accepts the incident happened elsewhere. It says the case still “raises serious concerns” about how the licence holder runs licensed premises.
Police: “no confidence”
Thames Valley Police’s licensing department sent a supporting representation on 14 August. It says the force “fully supports the review application” and asks the sub-committee to revoke.
It points to the knives found at the till in August 2024, September 2025 and June 2026. It says their “repeated discovery” behind the counter is “highly concerning”. It adds that more conditions, a new supervisor or a suspension would not fix what it calls underlying management failings.
The council’s food and safety team also made a representation. Separately, the Food Standards Agency’s register shows Kings Food and Wine was rated 0 on 27 February 2026, the lowest score, meaning “urgent improvement necessary”.
What happens on Thursday
Under the Licensing Act 2003, councillors can:
- take no action
- issue a formal warning
- change the licence conditions
- remove alcohol sales from the licence
- remove the designated premises supervisor
- suspend the licence for up to three months
- revoke it
The licensing team’s application argues against each of the lighter options. It says the licence already has strong conditions and the problem is that they are not kept. The licence holder is also the supervisor, so replacing the supervisor would change nothing.
The licence holder, the council and the police can all appeal the decision to the magistrates’ court within 21 days.
What it means for you
The hearing is public. It is in the Council Chamber at the Civic Centre, Bridge Street, at 9.30am on Thursday 1 October. The public comment period closed on 3 September, so only people who made a representation can speak.
If the licence is revoked, the shop cannot sell alcohol. It could still trade as a grocery.
We will report the decision from the sub-committee’s decision notice once it is published. Reading’s zero-rated food businesses and our planning applications guide cover other council records for the town centre.
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