‘Overstocking’ as Oxford convenience store receives 1-star

Uni Food and Wine in Park End Street in Oxford city centre was found without a working hot water tap by food hygiene inspectors.

The store was visited by Oxford City Council’s Environmental Health Team in March.

Inspectors also found the standard of cleaning to be poor, with no pest proofing, large amounts of water leaking behind an ice cream unit and severe overstocking.

Investigators said due to the high amount of stock on the shop floor, pests and water leakage could not be seen, and electrical sockets were left damp.

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Inspectors stated that ‘major improvement (was) necessary’ at the site outlining the management of food safety as a key issue.

The cleanliness and condition of both the facilities and the building were highlighted as a problem with ‘necessary’ improvement being requested by the hygiene report.

The  store was previously slapped with a  one-star food hygiene rating in June 2024, with no improvement on their hygienic food handling, cleanliness and condition of facilities and building, or management of food safety since then.

Avret Singh Lalpurwal, 45, was the owner of Uni Food and Wine, the off-licence shop in Frideswide Square, Oxford, when the shop lost its licence following an investigation from Trading Standards last year.

The shop was found to have been selling illegal tobacco products, including vapes and nicotine pouches, and Lalpurwal faced criminal charges for the offences.

Since then, the Frideswide Square off-licence has been rebranded as TNT Convenience Ltd and taken over by the owner’s son, Rajmeet Singh Lalpurwal and continues trading under a new alcohol and tobacco licence.