Bar has licence suspended for six weeks after ‘underage girls served’
A Middlesbrough nightclub where underage girls were said to have been served drinks before one was allegedly raped has had its licence suspended for six weeks.
The Lounge Afrique on Corporation Road in the town centre must abide by stricter conditions when it regains its licence. These include bringing in new door staff, photo ID electronic scanning and police-approved incident, refusal and ejection policies.
The venue had its licence suspended after it was alleged a number of underage girls were allowed in and served alcoholic drinks in the early hours of a day in July. It was reported to police that one of the girls, who was under 16, was raped “whilst at or following their attendance at the premises”, prompting an investigation.
Middlesbrough Council’s licensing committee was told of nine other police reports at the town centre bar in the past two years. These included suspected drink-spiking and sexual assault – one of which led to a separate rape investigation – along with a report the club was being used as a brothel and physical assaults on women.
Now, following the August hearing, the committee has made its decision to suspend the licence for six weeks. A new licence carries changed terms, saying the licence holder “shall terminate the use of the current door supervisor provider”, replacing it with a Security Industry Authority-registered, police-approved contractor, with trained door staff wearing body cameras, uniforms and high-vis listed in a register.
The venue must run an electronic system to scan photo ID at the entrance, as well as risk assessments, fire risk assessments and qualified first aiders. Staff training will include licensing, conflict and incident management, CCTV, entrance and serving rules, customer safety and safeguarding.
Licence holder Percy Quarcoo has been restricted from acting as premises supervisor or manager in sole control. Cleveland Police must be told about a new proposed supervisor, who must be at the bar when it is open.
Mr Quarcoo had proposed taking on the role of premises supervisor last month as he told the committee he was bringing in new measures, including a new security team, a safeguarding lead, enhanced staff training, strengthened age verification, new procedures and audits. He said the reports were “deeply distressing”, prompting a thorough review of how the club operates and making “significant improvements” to ensure “customer safety is at the centre of everything we do”.
Cleveland Police suggested suspending the licence until those measures were fully implemented. Council licensing, public health and children’s services representatives suggested revoking the licence altogether, citing “grave concerns” about the club’s management and “inadequate procedures”.
Fiona Helyer, principal public protection officer for licensing, told councillors: “The alleged entry of multiple children into the premises, the apparent failure of age verification controls, the serious safeguarding concerns that have arisen and the history of previous incidents collectively demonstrate significant failings.”
Senior public health officer Lindsay Clode said: “It’s not an isolated incident… It shouldn’t take a significant incident like this for the premises licence holder to pull their socks up.”
In response, Mr Quarcoo admitted there had been “flaws” and expressed concern for the young person involved in the July report, saying: “We recognise that this should not have happened. We’ve used this review process to examine our procedures in detail and recognise where should more safeguards apply.
“We’re taking this very seriously. We want to be the best in class when it comes to managing our venue.”
He accepted licence conditions had been breached, adding: “I hold my hands up, absolutely. We’re deeply sorry about everything.”
He said issues raised were “extremely concerning to us” and they recognised their responsibilities and learned from events to make meaningful and lasting improvements to make sure it did not happen again. He added: “We want Lounge Afrique to be a venue where concerns are identified, recorded, reported and acted upon appropriately.”
He said safety and welfare was paramount and they wanted to start afresh and change the club’s culture and behaviour: “Lounge Afrique is part of Middlesbrough. We want to continue to contribute positively to the town, but we understand that with that privilege comes a significant responsibility.”
The club has 21 days to appeal to magistrates against the licensing committee’s decision.