Club night cancelled after police warn of crime and disorder risk

POLICE objections to a licence being issued for a club night less than a mile from the venue where a father-of-two was stabbed to death on New Year’s Eve have led to the event being cancelled.

Officers said the Mix Up Live night, which was planned to be held at the London Road Club on Friday, February 24, could have resulted in “serious crime and disorder” due to the clientele it would have attracted.

An application for a temporary event licence was submitted to Sheffield Council for the over-16s club night, which the organisers described as “weird and wonderful, with live music from RnB to indie, metal to dubstep.”

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Almost 80 people had already signed up on social networking site Facebook to say they were attending the event, which would have featured live performances from acts crossing “four massive genres.”

However, Mix Up Live has now been cancelled and will be rescheduled for a later date, after strong opposition from police.

South Yorkshire Police said that one of the problems was an anticipated “conflict” between fans of different music genres.

In a report set to go before a Sheffield Council licensing board meeting, at which the temporary event application was set to be decided, a police spokesman said: “The grounds of objection are based on the prevention of crime and disorder.

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“Our objection relates to links between this event and premises which have recently come to our attention.

“We have serious concerns the event will attract the same clientele and has potential for serious crime and disorder.

“Our concerns also extend to the nature of the event, where a mixed genre of music potentially may attract conflict within the audience.”

Bethany Barlow, who applied for the licence, said that Mix Up Live would be rescheduled.

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She withdrew her application yesterday, just 10 days before the event was set to take place and eight days before the planned licensing board meeting.

She added: “We’ve had to cancel it because they gave us a list of things we had to do, which we couldn’t do in time for the event.

“They asked us to improve security, put proper restrictions on the age limits and things like that.

“We will be rescheduling, and working alongside the police so that we can do everything properly from the beginning this time.”

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South Yorkshire Police’s crackdown on temporary events licences being issued for this type of event comes after Joshua Green, 27, was stabbed to death in the early hours of New Year’s Day at an R’n’B night at the Stars and Mayfair party suites in Queen’s Road, just a short walk from the London Road Club.

Following the fatal attack on the dancefloor, police called for a review of the Stars and Mayfair’s licence and pointed to a string of violent incidents which they said had taken place at the party suites.

At a meeting to review the venue’s licence, councillors were told of five previous incidents during which police were called to the Stars and Mayfair in preceding months, including a brawl at a wedding.

As a result, Sheffield Council decided to revoke the venue’s licence – a decision which licensee Nigel Thompson is now appealing.

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Just a fortnight after Mr Green was killed, police also opposed plans to hold a party called Bring Back The Love at the Everyone Centre in Broadfield Road, Heeley.

Officers said that the party could have attracted the same clientele as those that were at the Stars and Mayfair the night Mr Green died and – like the London Road Club event – said the party had the potential for “serious crime and disorder.”

Sheffield Council’s licensing board refused permission for Bring Back The Love after the police’s objection.