NEIGHBOURS have breathed a sigh of relief as councillors revoked the alcohol licence of a store which led some to rename their road "street drinker's alley".

The Superstore in Baker Street saw its licence brought up for review after residents complained the shop had become a magnet for drunken and anti-social behaviour.

Allegations included employing illegal immigrants as staff, selling super-strength lager below minimum price and serving known street drinkers who were already intoxicated.

Despite councillors and neighbours vouching for the store's previous good name the family run store had spent the last two years being run by brothers Bhopinder Singh and Satpal Vadva.

Mr Vadva, who took over from his brother last October, was removed as the designated premises licence holder (DPS) by members of Reading Borough Council's licensing applications sub-committee.

The premises licence holder, Nadeem Shahzad, also had his licence removed as councillors were not satisfied he had taken the proper steps to ensure the shop was run correctly in the owner's absence.

A dispute between the two parties has seen the shop temporarily closed down by bailiffs while a £145,000 lease agreement is settled in county court.

Neighbours described the "twilight" period since the store's closure on September 1, citing it as the main cause for street drinkers to congregate in the area.

Peter Bowyer, chairman of the Oxford Road Neighbourhood Action Group (NAG), said: "We are not talking about people who have an occasional drink, they are drunk all day everyday.

"They are abusive, they swear, they shout and they scare the children."

Karen Rowland, chairman of the Baker Street Area Neighbourhood Association, said: "There is absolutely no question that over the past two years, since the current DPS took over, it has been hell in our neighbourhood.

"We could have renamed Baker Street 'street drinker's alley'."

The committee heard how Satpal Vadva, the designated premises licence holder, was accused by police of being in possession of illicit tobacco and selling cans of Special Brew below the legal minimum price.

Philip Somarakis, speaking on behalf of Mr Vadva, said the allegations made against them were only "minor infractions" and could easily be kept in order by adding conditions to the licence.

Abbey ward councillor Cllr Tony Page acted as a character witness for Makhtar Ahmed, the freeholder of the premises, saying there were "few, if any, instances of trouble" when the family directly ran the store.

Cllr Page did agree that an increase in problems seemed to have arose since Mr Ahmed took a step back and allowed the appointment of Mr Vadva and other colleagues.

Although the landlord's son Nadeem Shahzad claimed to visit the store most Fridays to check up as the premises licence holder, he failed to report any of the problems.

Councillor Marian Livingston, chairman, said: "The premises licence holder should have taken responsible steps to ensure that the four licensing objectives were maintained.

"Failure of the premises licence holder to take the necessary steps to promote the four licensing objectives contributed to the matters heard."

Speaking after the meeting Mrs Rowland said: "The shop basically allowed the street drinkers to run our neighbourhood and now at last, unless anything further happens, we have our neighbourhood back - a place for our residents to live as residents."