Musselburgh restaurant caught running 'unlawful' bar for four years has licence revoked

A Musselburgh Chinese restaurant has had its licence to serve alcohol revoked after its owner was declared “not fit” to hold it.

The Auld Hoose Restaurant, on New Street, ran a full bar for four years without a licensed manager operating on the premises and was unable to provide any evidence that staff had been given any training when it came to selling alcohol on the premises.

And at a meeting of East Lothian Licensing Board this week, police said the owner of the restaurant, who was the named licensed premises holder, has been reported to the Procurator Fiscal after an investigation discovered what they described as a “lack of knowledge” of the way the legislation works.

The board heard the restaurant came to the attention of its licensing standards officer after complaints about a number of incidents over the summer when its patrons had spilled out onto the street and were drinking and sitting at outside tables, disturbing local residents.

Further investigations and a visit to the restaurant revealed the registered premises manager had left in 2022, and the current manager was not registered and did not hold a personal licence to sell alcohol.

The licensing standards officer told the board that the manager, Ramesh Shrestha, believed all he had to do to continue the premises being covered with a licence was to pay the annual fee.

She said there were no signs up in the premises declaring its licence conditions, Challenge 25 or child access policies, and it was clear a full bar was on display as well as drinks menus and a recent delivery of wine.

She told the board: “We told Mr Shrestha because there was no premises manager, alcohol sales had to cease immediately, all alcohol had to be removed from display and drinks menus had to be removed.”

Police said they became involved in the case and spoke to Mr Shrestha, the premises licence holder, and owner Sau Tai Wong.

A police spokesperson told the board: “It is clear what has come about has been through a lack of knowledge about how the legislation works. This is quite an unusual situation here in that a fully licensed bar has been operating with no element of compliance other than a premises licence in place.

“Therefore, police have submitted a report to the Procurator Fiscal notifying them that the premises licence holder has been charged with a contravention of section one of the Licensing Scotland Act, namely serving alcohol not in accordance with the premises licence.”

Representatives for Mrs Wong told the board that she and her husband had retired, and the restaurant was the only commercial property they continued to own.

Her daughter, Helen, said her parents had run restaurants since the late 80s but retired more than a decade ago and relied heavily on their lawyers in the past to advise them.

She said: “Since my mum and dad retired, they spend a lot of time in Hong Kong, it is not an excuse, but since their lawyer retired, their knowledge of what was going on has not been as good as it was.”

The board was asked to review the premises licence for the restaurant with the options of deciding Mrs Wong was either ‘fit and proper’ to hold it, not ‘fit and proper’ to hold it or to adjourn the decision.

After a brief discussion behind closed doors, the board returned to unanimously vote to find Mrs Wong not fit and proper to hold the licence and order it revoked.

Board interim chairperson Councillor John McMIllan said: “Mrs Wong we have all agreed that you are not a fit and proper person under the terms of the licensing law.”