Two Medway shops have been punished after breaching their licences to sell alcohol.

Kubus Convenience in High Street, Chatham, had its licence completely revoked after a licensing panel heard it had been discovered selling lagers with ABVs above 5.5% - which it had previously been banned from doing.

The alcohol limit had been imposed because the shop was in an area notorious for street drinkers, and as owner Harem Haji had previously been warned for similar breaches before, the panel decided not to give him another chance - despite his promises to be more vigilant in the future.

Mr Haji, 27, insisted he had not been aware of the banned brands on his shelves - which were found during a visit by police on July 29 - and explained they had ended up being placed accidentally back on shelves by staff following a previous warning.

And he said non-duty paid cigarettes found at the shop on the same day were not for sale.

"For them it's nothing, but for me it's everything," he said after the hearing at Medway Council headquarters in Gun Wharf . "I'm going to have to close."

The panel also suspended the licence of Sunny News in Skinner Street, Gillingham, for one month, after hearing it had been found selling non duty paid wine.

Officers visited Sunny News in Skinner Street, Gillingham, on the same day as the visit to Kubus in July, and found 20 bottles of Italian wine in the basement and 39 bottles – which were not price-marked – on the shop’s shelves.

A staff member told them the cost of the wine was £5 for two bottles, which led the officers to deduce – as the cost of duty for wine is £2.95 per bottle – that the duty had not been paid.

But owner Vasant Patel insisted he had bought the wine in good faith from a cash and carry wholesaler in Barking more than a year ago, and had only dropped the price after poor sales - reasoning that any price was better than none.

However, he could not provide receipts for the alleged purchase, and the hearing panel suspended the licence for one month.