Brothers breach leads to large fine
Friday December 23, 2011
Two brothers have been fined more than £7,600 after selling alcohol illegally and continually breaching the terms of their premises licence.
Barakat Barakat Diab and his brother William Barakat, who run the Mandaloun Lebanese restaurant in Fulham town centre, have been slapped with a total bill of £7,687.20 for selling alcohol illegally and playing loud music past the hours the licence allows.
The brothers have previous convictions for similar offences, dating back to October 2010, when they were fined and ordered to pay costs of £12,000 in total.
The fines amounted to £3,000 each for breaching these two licensing conditions and Diab and Barakat were ordered to pay prosecution costs to the council amounting to £1,687.20, along with a £15 victim surcharge.
Cllr Greg Smith, cabinet member for residents’ services, said: “This is beyond irresponsible and arrogant of these two men who have already been prosecuted for very similar offences.
“While most pubs and bars have been working with the council and police to stamp out the drunken, loutish and loud behaviour in the Fulham Broadway area, these brothers have set themselves apart by continuing to ignore the law.
“However, we refuse to ignore this kind of insolence, and will always pursue people who break the law – especially when it means this will make the lives of residents who live in the area much better.”
The first offence occurred at 12:45am, on August 7 2010, when the council’s licensing officers and the Met Police’s licensing officer for H&F, carried out a test purchase at the Fulham Road restaurant. The premises licence states that alcohol can only be sold to people who are having a meal, yet officers were able to buy drinks without being asked to eat there.
The second incident was just two months later on Saturday, October 9, when council officers and the Met’s licensing officer for H&F witnessed loud amplified music coming from Mandaloun between 1am and 2am. The current licence only allows such music between 8pm and 1.30am, Monday to Saturday, and from 8pm to 11.30pm, on Sunday.
The brothers’ previous convictions are for five offences of breaching the 2003 licensing act, for selling alcohol outside of the licensed hours, and selling alcohol without food, where Bakarat and Diab were fined £1,000 each for each offence, amounting to a total of £10,000. They were also fined £250 each for selling alcohol to someone who was intoxicated.
