A Turkish shopkeeper has been banned from selling alcohol and told he can only have his licence back if he starts speaking English.

Hasan Sengoz, who runs Mesapotamia, in York Place, Brighton, was hit with the unusual ban this week after being caught serving under 18s three times in five months.

He claimed he had been unable to question customers about their ages properly because he only spoke Turkish.

Brighton and Hove City Council, which imposed the ban, said the language clause was necessary to ensure public safety.

Licensing panel chairwoman Councillor Jeane Lepper said: "Clearly it is a difficult problem. We don't want to stop the business from being able to trade but if they are serving underage drinkers because they cannot communicate with them then we must do something."

She said that the council could not legally require Mr Sengoz to speak English but had installed a condition that an English-speaker should be on-site at all times after it was suggested by his daughter. He will now have to learn the language or take on extra staff.

The panel revoked Mesapotamia's alcohol licence for three months and warned it would take it away permanently if there were any further problems.

Mr Sengoz was called before the council after Sussex Police lodged concerns.

They acted following complaints the shop, which had a licence to serve alcohol until 2am, was contributing to problems of antisocial behaviour and street drinking in nearby London Road and around St Peter's Church opposite.

It was caught selling to under 18s in three of four test purchases carried out between November and March. Warnings and fines were issued after the first two failures. The police had called for the shop's alcohol licence to be permanently revoked.

Inspector Rob Leet, in charge of neighbourhood policing in central Brighton, said: "The availability of alcohol to minors is the key problem we face in trying to tackle youth disorder."

The London Road and York Place area has had numerous instances of confrontational behaviour by youths, including arguments and fights in the street, while eggs and fireworks have been thrown at the public.

Insp Leet said: "Mesapotamia has been identified locally as serving to street drinkers and our own test purchase operations add weighty evidence to this belief."

When The Argus visited Mr Sengoz yesterday he was unable to speak about the situation. He took a telephone number and said he would ask his English-speaking daughter to contact the newspaper but she did not call.

A second convenience store also had its alcohol licence suspended by the council after being caught selling to under 18s by the police three times.

Three to Four, in Western Road, Hove, was given a six week ban and told it had to organise external training for its staff in how to deal with underage drinkers.