Acting on behalf of West Midlands Police, Rebecca Keeves successfully argued for the revocation of a Society Nightclub Licence on a nightclub in central Wolverhampton.
The circumstances of this case were that the police were called following a disorder in the premises that resulted in a patron suffering a cut to the hand and criminal damage being caused in July of this year. This was though the second time the premises had been under review in 6 months.
The committee heard that hours after closing normally the venue reopened for a private party resulting in drinking beyond licensed permitted hours. The private party was held in a third floor room which was said not to generally be open to the public.
Rebecca argued that the license holders had failed to uphold licensing objectives of preventing crime and disorder, health and safety and preventing public nuisance and called for the licence to be revoked.
She said:
“This is the second time of having a review with regards to these premises, the last one being back in April. The premises has its opportunity at that point, the licence was modified and the police weren’t seeking a revocation at that time.
The fact is [the licence holders] should have learned from the previous occasion, there should be proper checks and balances in place and in any event, it’s not just a staff member but a family member who had keys and had access.
The relevant person has no knowledge of what was going on and I would suggest that is a failing on their part – it is their responsibility to know what is going on. It’s their responsibility to appoint appropriate and responsible people.
[the family member] should already have been aware of the difficulties experienced by the premises and should have been on high alert to any behaviour that could cause additional problems.”
But despite mitigation that the club had installed additional measures for security, transferring the licence and seeking to sub-let, the committee were satisfied the club failed to uphold licensing objectives and revoked the licence.