A pub has become the first in the UK to lose its gaming licence after it failed to stop children using machines.

Redbridge Council said it had become the first local authority in the country to strip a pub of its gaming machine licence after it repeatedly failed to stop children playing on them.

The council’s licensing committee yesterday decided to rescind the permit of The George pub, which is a branch of J D Wetherspoon, following two test purchase operations led by the borough’s licencing enforcement team and the police.

Under the joint operations, which took place in January and June this year, police cadets under the age of 16 entered the pub and were able to use two gambling terminals unchallenged.

Despite staff being nearby, on each occasion the cadets were able to spend £3 on the machines without being asked for proof of age.

Both times, the entire episode was witnessed by two plain clothes police officers who had entered the pub before the cadets.

The landmark decision means the pub on Wanstead High Street has lost its right to have up to seven gaming machines.

However, the Licensing Sub-Committee allowed the pub to keep two fruit machines, which is the automatic legal entitlement, after the pub agreed to bring in technology that alerts staff to machine use.