The wife of a Battersea shopkeeper whose drinks licence was revoked after he was caught selling fake cigarettes has failed in her attempt to obtain a replacement one in her name.

Councillors at Tuesday night's licensing sub-committee rejected an application from Lakhbir Kaur Kapoor which would have allowed store The Thirsty Camel in Lavender Hill to sell alcohol.

In March her husband Kulbir Singh Kapoor had his licence revoked by the licensing sub-committee amid concerns about the way the business was being run.

During a visit at the end of 2013 to the store, then called Best One, trading standards officers found thousands of pounds worth of counterfeit cigarettes hidden in a storeroom.

Nearly 700 packets of contraband tobacco were found - with nearly a third of them fakes and the rest smuggled into the country from overseas and not lawfully allowed to be sold in the UK.

Since it lost its licence, Mr and Mrs Kapoor have renamed the store The Thirsty Camel. Her licence application would have allowed the sale of alcohol to customers until midnight during the week and 2am at weekends.

As well as objections to the application from the council’s chief trading standards officer and its director of public health, three neighbours also objected on the grounds of noise nuisance, litter problems and the risk of late night crime and disorder.

Committee chairman Councillor Caroline Usher said: "The committee decided that we could not grant Mrs Kapoor a licence. There have been serious problems in the past with the way this business has been run and as a director of the company she is simply not in a position to evade responsibility for this.

"Although the business has a new name, it is essentially the same people in charge and as such we did not feel that we could allow this store to have a liquor licence.

"We have a legal duty to ensure that those who are licensed to sell alcohol in the borough of Wandsworth fully comply with the law and act responsibly to prevent crime and disorder."

Mr Kapoor's licence was revoked by the licensing sub-committee in March, but he is appealing the decision in the magistrates’ court and until that appeal is determined the shop is still lawfully permitted to sell alcohol.

Anyone with information about items being unlawfully sold should call trading standards on 020 8871 7720 or email tradingstandards@wandsworth.gov.uk.