West Street pub loses licence
Molly Malone's in West Street has lost its alcohol licence after a violent incident involving a 16-year-old.
Sussex Police asked Brighton and Hove City Council to review the licence for the venue after a violent incident at the pub on 6 July. The review was held in secret because elements of the criminal proceedings were still active. The Hove teenager was charged after the incident last month.
The Council’s licensing panel said that management failures and “rogue” door staff were partly to blame for the teenager being on the premises. Sussex Police had listed a number of incidents at Molly Malone's since July last year and the events on 06 July were deemed to be so serious that they “illustrate[d] failures and longer-term issues at the premises”.
Venue owners Indigo Leisure claimed that the incident had sent “shockwaves” through the premises but did show management failure. On the night in question a junior supervisor was in charge of the business rather than a “fully fledged” manager. The company has 17 other businesses in Brighton and Hove.
The panel said: “There were clearly serious management and staff failures on 06 July which permitted the 16-year-old to gain access to, and remain in, the premises.
The panel added; “It is suggested that just two staff were responsible for this failure but the licence has a whole raft of conditions requiring regular surveillance and checks in the premises by all staff and yet these were not sufficient to prevent the serious incidents”.
“There were clearly considerable failures on the part of the door staff at the premises on the 06 July and one of them working there, referred to as the ‘rogue door man’, was already banned from working at the premises due to previous issues and this should have been prevented.”
The panel said that even though Indigo Leisure has good credentials regarding its wider practices, training and management at Molly Malone’s was “not strong enough” for a business in busy West Street.
Adding extra conditions to the licence, including introducing ID scanners and reducing hours, were considered but the panel decided these measures would not be effective in addressing their concerns.
Indigo Leisure has 21 days to appeal against the decision. In the meantime, the licence will remain suspended.