Another Bath Street Blunder That Wasted Everyone’s Time
The licence for Ilkeston Store, 15 Bath Street, was refused yesterday (28 October 2025) – and rightly so.
But let’s be honest – it should never have got this far.
Council officers, police, Trading Standards and Environmental Health all said the same thing months ago: the people behind this shop couldn’t be trusted to run a licensed business responsibly. They’d already been caught selling alcohol without a licence, employing an illegal worker, and selling vapes to kids.
This isn’t about who owns the shop – it’s about behaviour, responsibility and respect for the law.
Yes, they pay a small fee to apply – but that doesn’t come close to covering the real cost of months of investigation, officer time and hearing preparation. All that still falls on public funds drawn from council tax and police budgets.
A predictable waste of public money
This wasn’t a close call. It was obvious from day one.
The same names. The same faces. The same problems.
They even admitted the shop “wasn’t making much money” and that they planned to buy cheap alcohol from Birmingham to flog on Bath Street.
And still, a whole council committee had to spend hours preparing and sitting through a hearing to reach the only conclusion possible.
It’s a farce – and not just an Ilkeston problem.
It’s a symptom of a system that seems powerless to say no until enough time and money have been wasted first.
Who pays for this? We do.
Every officer who had to investigate, every visit from Environmental Health, every police report, every witness statement – it all costs.
All to deal with people who’ve already broken the law and shown total disregard for the community they’re trying to profit from.
And what happens next? Nothing.
No fine. No compensation for the wasted time. No bill for the resources they’ve drained.
Just a free shot at another application later down the line.
If someone repeatedly wastes public time with hopeless licence bids, they should have to pay for it.
Because right now, there’s no deterrent – just delay, paperwork, and frustration.
Enough is enough
Ilkeston doesn’t need another off-licence selling cheap booze.
It doesn’t need more antisocial behaviour, litter and late-night nuisance.
And it definitely doesn’t need to see the same bad actors tying up council resources again and again.
The refusal is welcome – but it’s not enough.
The system needs teeth.
If you waste public time, mislead officers, and ignore the law, you should foot the bill.
Because the people who’ve been insulted most in all this aren’t on Bath Street – they’re the ones paying council tax.