Suspected fake football shirts and knock-off designer handbags were found for sale in a pub, according to Lewisham Council inspectors.
Trading Standards and Lewisham Council Licensing Authority workers said they found the items in The Railway Tavern, on Southend Lane, Lower Sydenham, during a joint inspection on July 31.
They also found banned vaping products being flogged in the pub, Lewisham Council’s Licensing Authority said.
The inspection was launched after Trading Standards received a complaint about counterfeit cigarettes and fake football shirts being sold at the pub.
During the visit, an employee said a man who came to the pub was responsible for flogging the cigarettes.
The inspectors said the pub was also selling alcohol without authorisation after the premises licence lapsed with the dissolution of the company that operated as the previous licence-holder.
The council sent the pub a warning letter about this in August but licensable activities continued, according to an official report.
The Licensing Authority is now opposing the pub’s new application for a premises licence, with one of the council’s licensing sub committees set to decide on the application on Tuesday.
In a report submitted to the council ahead of the meeting, Trading Standards said there are “substantial concerns regarding the management and operation of the premises”.
It added: “The alleged sale of prohibited disposable vapes, counterfeit designer handbags, counterfeit football shirts and illicit/counterfeit cigarettes represents serious criminal conduct which strikes at the heart of the licensing regime.”
However, Yener Karahan, who owns The Railway Tavern, denied the claims when approached for comment by the Lewisham Letter.
He said the fake football shirts and designer bags were given to customers for free – and not being sold.
And he insisted the illicit vapes discovered in the pub were for his own personal use and denied counterfeit cigarettes were sold in the premises.