A POPULAR bar will be temporarily alcohol-free after staff were caught selling booze to underage teens.

Bar staff at Fabio’s, on Saddler Street, Durham City, twice sold vodka to a 16-year-old girl working on an undercover police sting operation without asking for proof of her age, on March 15 and April 5.

That led Durham Police to ask Durham County Council to bring forward the bar’s opening times by two hours, to midnight.

A council licensing committee was due to rule on the application on Tuesday (September 9).

However, a deal has been struck between the police and the bar’s owner, Fabio Ciampolillo.

Mr Ciampolillo has agreed to deploy extra door staff – peaking at four late on Friday and Saturday nights, improve the venue’s CCTV and provide extra staff training.

Further, the drinks licence for Fabio’s will be suspended from September 9 to 29.

La Spaghettata, the Italian restaurant which shares 66 Saddler Street with Fabio’s, is unaffected by the suspension.

A mediation agreement signed by Matthew Foster, Mr Ciampolillo’s solicitor, and Stephen Mooney, the deputy force solicitor, says: “The parties are satisfied that the mediation reached addresses the seriousness of what has happened, whilst leaving the business viable, more responsible/accountable and with better training and measures in place for addressing underage sales.

“Both parties are satisfied that the robust measures proposed will hopefully prevent similar events reoccurring in the future.”

The venue previously failed a so-called test purchase operation in October 2012 and the police only abandoned an attempt to close the venue last year after Mr Ciampolillo agreed to bring closing time forward by an hour to 2am.

Several neighbours had written to the council in support of Mr Ciampolillo, saying how seriously he was taking the issue.