Thrift shop at centre of allegations of attempting to dupe the public didn't have correct licence

A second-hand goods shop run by the Edinburgh Conservative Party was forced to close for a day and a half after council officials found it didn’t have the correct licence to operate.

The pop up shop in the Tollcross area of the town had been criticised by locals and political opponents who felt the Tories had tried to dupe the public into thinking it was a charity shop.

Instead, the former beauty salon is used to raise funds for the party in the run up to the general election and it had only one small, handwritten sign explaining who it was run by,

It’s understood officials from City of Edinburgh Council’s trading standards department visited the premises following the story breaking last month and found the volunteers running it did not have an appropriate trading licence.

Former Tory councillor Alistair Paisley, who is helping to run the shop and always denied any attempt to trick the public, said officials agreed to issue a temporary licence retrospectively on payment of the normal fee of £89.

He said: “They said we needed a temporary second-hand dealer trading licence and if we continued to trade we could be operating illegally.

“We shut the doors for a day and a half until we got everything sorted out.”

The shop has since reopened and has a lease up until 20 March.

A council spokeswoman, said: “After visiting the premises, council officers advised that the shop required a second hand dealer trading licence.

“An application was received for a temporary licence, which has now been issued.”