Shop closed for giving free beer with mats

A Surrey furniture shop which gave away free alcohol while selling beer mats to customers has been shut down for breaching licensing laws.

Furniture shop Insatiable, based in Farnham , Surrey, has been closed by Surrey Police for giving away alcohol without an alcohol license.

The store, run by Simon Atkins, had been doing this for seven years, and was accused by Jeremy Hunt, MP for South West Surrey, of exploiting a legal “loophole”.

Following complaints by residents and local pub-owners, Atkins agreed to become a personal alcohol license holder, according to the BBC.

But this license was surrendered to the local borough council after a number of police inspections, when it then continued to run as an unlicensed bar.

“Moving forward, we will now display huge signs, explain that we don’t sell alcohol to anyone… and have a clear price list of our wonderful and collectible beer mats,” Insatiable said on its Facebook page. “The battle was lost, but not the war.”

Insatiable may reopen after all alcohol has been removed from the premise.