‘Retribution’ fears halt Eastern European event
8:00am Tuesday 3rd April 2012 in Bradford
By Jo Winrow
The Venue, in Sunbridge Road, Bradford, cannot hold an Eastern European event after a serious assault last month
Police have objected to plans for an Eastern European nightclub event this weekend after a man suffered severe leg injuries at a similar event held there last month.
Licensing officers feared a “potential for retribution” over the serious assault which happened at The Venue, Sunbridge Road, Bradford, in the early hours of Sunday, March 18.
PC Su Dawson described the latest application for an event on Sunday until 3am the following morning as a “recipe for serious disorder”.
Members of the Bradford Licensing Panel refused to issue a temporary event notice for applicant Mehboob Hussain, effectively shutting the event down.
Mr Hussain had told the panel that the incident last month was a one-off and that the event this weekend did not involve the same people.
He added that the CCTV cameras, which were not working at the time of the assault, had been fixed and that he would be employing doormen to help with security.
But PC Dawson said she feared he did not understand how the licensing rules worked and had not been able to give full details of the man actually organising the event at his premises.
She added that there had previously been issues over the wrong dates being on temporary event notices, and that the event where the disorder took place had actually been unlicensed.
It also emerged that Mr Hussain had been prosecuted for holding an event without the proper licence in 2010.
Councillor John Ruding, chairman of the panel, said they were concerned about previously unlicensed events at the premises, incidents of major public
disorder and Mr Hussain’s apparent lack of control over the premises.
He said: “The panel is not convinced that crime and disorder would be prevented.”
In addition the panel allowed an extension of the licensed hours for Clayton Village Hall, although not until 2am as had been requested.
Volunteers run the grade II listed building on Reva Syke Road as a charity, and money from hiring out the hall is ploughed back into it. Organisers wanted to change the hours from 11pm for the sale
of alcohol and 11.45pm or midnight for entertainment, to 2am for both on Fridays and Saturdays.
Local residents objected due to concerns about noise levels.The panel agreed that alcohol could be sold until 1am at the weekend, with music until 12.30am.
e-mail: jo.winrow@telegraphandargus.co.uk