Bar may lose licence after police uncover ‘catalogue of breaches’

Police officers have presented Kirklees Council with a report on That Bar in Huddersfield in King Street, which was formerly Bar Rouge.

On Friday the council’s licensing panel will decide what, if any, action to take against those running the bar.

During a visit to the bar last month police officers checked two water fire extinguishers which they discovered to be empty, according to the police report to the council.

At the foot of the stairs leading to the first floor was a fire alarm activation point but this had the front cover missing and bare wires were exposed.

A policeman asked to see a fire alarm test log but this could not be produced and the officer was told that the fire alarm had not been tested.

The officer discovered the first floor fire exit route had scaffolding and a propane gas bottle stored along the route.

A senior member of staff present was also asked to test the emergency lighting but did not know how to carry out this test, the report adds.

The police officer walked around the bar and discovered that the lamp was missing from the emergency light above the stairs leading to the first floor.

“The stairway at this point is extremely dark and would be hazardous without the benefit of any lighting,” the officer’s report states.

Further investigations found that the lamp appeared to have gone in the first floor fire exit sign, which was not illuminated.

The smoke detectors above the dance floor on the ground floor had been de-activated by removing the detector heads, according to police.

Police also found that the disabled toilet on the ground floor was being used as a storeroom.

During a further visit to the bar last month, concerns were raised about the potential dangers of the bar becoming too full during busy evening periods.

The police asked several questions about the running of the bar and were concerned to hear that there were no measures in place to count the number of customers inside the club, nor could anyone say what the safe levels of occupancy were.

Police officers also asked questions about illegal drugs and what happened to those drugs when they were confiscated by door staff.

“The bar did not have a search policy in relation to customers and there was no drugs safe,” the report said.

Police were told that drugs seized were destroyed by staff by flushing them down the toilet.

Officers asked to see staff training records in relation to fire and evacuation procedures but none were produced.

The report states that the premises’ licence was to be transferred from one person to another but that “they just had not got round to it” which was “a further example of bad management practice”, according to the report.

Police also uncovered evidence of sales of alcohol after what should have been closing time.

Officers were told that the bar had remained open until after 6am on Sunday May 1 into Monday May 2.

Computer till accounts showed that sales of alcohol had carried on after 4am, with the last sale being recorded at 6am.

There were also concerns about the CCTV system in the bar and the deployment of door supervisors.

The CCTV had no playback facility nor was the footage able to be exported to a DVD disc or other medium.

The report concludes: “Due to the catalogue of premises’ licence breaches along with the criminal activity of after hours sales and the blatant disregard for public safety the police request the revocation of the premises’ licence.”

The licensing panel meets on Friday at 9.30am.