A Devon convenience store that was given a three-month closure order for illegal tobacco offences earlier this year has been shut down again just two weeks after re-opening.
Ilfracombe Mini Market, in the High Street, received another three-month closure order at Barnstaple Magistrates Court this week. It is not the only convenience store in the town to have been found trading in black market tobacco. The nearby City Market store was ordered to close at the end of October after a trading standards investigation for similar reasons.
Renewed closure after test purchase
Ilfracombe Mini Market’s renewed closure came after a trading standards test purchase that showed illegal tobacco was once again being sold. Last Sunday (November 8) trading standards and police officers went to the store to serve it with a 48-hour closure notice and, during an inspection, illegal tobacco products to the value of approximately £1,000 were found on the floor behind the sales counter.
Police and trading standards response
Sergeant Ash Steer, the neighbourhood team leader for Ilfracombe, said: “This closure demonstrates our ongoing pursuit of those disrupting our community. Working with trading standards, we’ve shut down another hub for an illegal trade in just a fortnight.”
Alex Fry, head of intelligence for trading standards in the South-west, added: “It is particularly concerning that illegal tobacco was again being sold from this premises so soon after it re-opened.”
