A SHOP which ran up a £140,000 tax bill has lost its licence for the second time after its owner failed to win an appeal against the decision.

Councillors decided Tipple, in Queen’s Road, Brighton, should no longer have permission to sell alcohol as a result of the tax evasion.

But owner Koray Tatlidede challenged the decision in court – until yesterday when his appeal was rejected and the original ruling upheld.

Brighton magistrates instead ordered the 33-year-old Turkish businessman to repay council legal costs of more than £3,000 in addition to his HMRC bill for corporation tax and VAT.

The Argus revealed in January the city centre store was having its alcohol licence removed.

Councillor Lee Wares, member of the licensing panel which made the initial ruling, said: “It is encouraging the court dismissed the appeal and upheld the licensing panel’s decision which proves it was a good and sound decision.

“The message for licence holders is that we will work with you, but if you don’t play by the rules we will have no qualms in revoking your licence and magistrates are backing us up.”

It is the second time the shop’s licence has been revoked since Tatlidede, of Addison Road, Hove, became the licensee seven years ago.

The first was in 2011 for selling fake and illegal alcohol. He was prosecuted by revenue and customs officers for around £142,000 of unpaid tax between October 2010 and 2014, at a time when the shop’s licence was already under review.

Tatlidede pleaded guilty to deliberately and dishonestly suppressing sales, which reduced liability for payment of corporation tax on income, and evading VAT in May last year and admitted owning not less than £86,000 of this sum which he is now having to pay back.

Magistrates also handed him an 18-month suspended prison sentence and said he must do 150 hours of unpaid work.

At the time of the council’s hearing in January, trading standards officer Catrina Macbeth said it was a “serious” matter which HMRC rarely prosecutes for and recommended revoking the licence was the “only appropriate step” that could be taken.

When Tatlidede found himself fighting to keep his alcohol licence for a second time he told councillors how he had only ever wanted to work hard.

He said he only wanted to live a normal life and avoid criminality and if he lost his licence he would not be able to repay the Government because he would lose his business. This was after he was prosecuted for tax evasion and his shop was found to be selling fake and illegal alcohol.