Café Carla loses licence over alcohol served to teenagers
Ipswich Borough Council's licensing committee has revoked the alcohol licence of Café Carla on Norwich Road, after councillors went further than police had requested — opting to strip the venue of its licence entirely rather than suspend it for three months.
Why it matters: The decision follows a Suffolk Police application to review the premises licence on the grounds of a failure to prevent crime and disorder, including an allegation that a 15-year-old girl was served alcohol at a children's party held in a back room of the café.
The details: The committee met on Monday, 13 April, to consider the police application. Suffolk Police had sought a three-month suspension of the licence, with alcohol sales restricted to between 07:00 and 22:00 daily once the premises reopened. Councillors, however, decided to revoke the licence altogether.
The force said it believed the café had been operating as a bar since last August, and outlined several instances of drunken behaviour between then and February.
Among the incidents cited, a 15-year-old told police she had been given a shot of alcohol by a man behind the bar while attending a party for young people in a back room of the premises. She said she was then handed a bottle of Jack Daniel's, which she shared with other attendees at the party.
The bigger picture: According to the police application, neither the premises supervisor nor the licence holder was running the café at the time. Instead, it said the venue was being managed by a man who was in the process of buying it, though no application for a new licence or for the transfer of the existing one had been received.
Companies House records show that the previous owner, Carla Maio, resigned as a person in significant control last August, with Portuguese national César Emanuel Lopes Pinheiro appointed in her place.
For context: The decision is the latest in a series of enforcement actions against Ipswich premises. In March, magistrates rejected a police closure order against Magazin Bacau Romanian Supermarket on the Buttermarket, despite a multi-agency investigation that led to the seizure of illicit alcohol, tobacco and prescription-only medication. Days later, The Orange Shop, a vape shop on Norwich Road, was fined more than £4,000 after magistrates heard it had sold vapes to underage customers on multiple occasions.
The bottom line: Councillors went beyond what police had asked for, revoking Café Carla's licence entirely — the strongest outcome available to the committee, and a signal that Ipswich's licensing system is prepared to act where enforcement actions have recently fallen short.
Below the line