Councillor calls for Tesco licence review
A Manchester councillor has called for a Tesco supermarket to have its licence reviewed after trouble flared at a World Cup big screen event in the city.
Councillor Pat Karney has called for the Tesco Express store on Manchester's Market Street to have its licence reviewed after he accused it of "irresponsibly" selling alcohol during the event on June 10.
The big screen event in Exchange Square was cancelled after trouble flared during England's 1-0 triumph over Paraguay.
Five people were arrested and 43 were treated for cuts and bruises.
Karney said that he saw alcohol being sneaked into the event despite a booze ban.
He told the Manchester Evening News: "I wanted to find out where it was all coming from, so I went up at half time and saw people with boxes of 24 cans coming out every 10 seconds. I went to have a word with the manager, who said that they were acting legally. Though this is true they were not acting responsibly."
A spokesman for Tesco told the paper: "If we had no direction otherwise we would continue selling alcohol during these events. If the police required us to, we would stop selling alcohol. If it were a request from the council we would consider it on its merits. We would not ignore public safety."
Pubs have been praised for a relatively trouble-free start to the World Cup whereas many of the big screen events up and down the country have resulted in violence.
