Bar to pay £22k legal costs to council and close for two months over alcohol-related violence, magistrates rule

A court has ordered a Leicester bar to pay more than £20,000 in legal costs to Leicester City Council after an unsuccessful appeal of licensing restrictions, which were aimed at reducing crime, disorder and noise problems.

The owners of Mamba Cafe and Bar, in the city's centre, had appealed against a decision by the council's licensing sub-committee in April 2022, which restricted opening hours, sales of alcohol and the number of people allowed to use an outdoor vaping and smoking area.

The restrictions had come about after police called on the local authority to review the bar's licence following a string of complaints about the venue.

Magistrates last week upheld the city council's original decision, partly because the efforts of the venue's operators, Lava Club Ltd, to avoid violence and disorder had been "extremely poor".

They also suspended the venue's licence for two months and extended the conditions to be in place when it reopens. Under the new restrictions, people entering will have to show identification and Security Industry Authority (SIA) door staff will have to be in place wearing hi-vis jackets, body cameras and a visible SIA badge.

The owners were also told to pay the council's legal costs of almost £22,000.

Magistrates heard how incidents of crime and disorder had continued since April 2022 and saw police evidence cataloguing violent incidents linked to the business.

Dismissing the bar's appeal, magistrates said: "There are many issues of public disorder and criminality still attributable to the Mamba premises.

"Most, if not virtually all of the violence and disorder is serious alcohol-related violence, in a location which receives continual heavy footfall, given the variety of other hostelries in this location."

Other businesses in the vicinity do not have such a high level of criminal disorder associated with them when compared to the Mamba club, magistrates added.

They continued: "Mamba premises have on certain occasions reported certain matters to the police, thus complying with licensing objectives, but we found that the management, anticipation and response to violent disorder associated with these premises has been extremely poor, and at times virtually ineffective; this was clearly exemplified by the recordings which we viewed today."

When the venue is allowed to reopen, licensing conditions will restrict its opening hours to 4 am on Fridays to Sundays, with alcohol sales ending at 3:30 am. On Thursday nights, the venue will be able to remain open until 5 am, with drinks served until 4.30 am.

A maximum of 10 people will be allowed to use the smoking area outside. The venue's designated premises supervisor has also been removed.

Responding to the ruling, Leicester deputy city mayor responsible for regulatory services, Cllr Piara Singh Clair, said: "It is encouraging to see that the magistrates have listened to the concerns raised by ourselves, police and neighbouring businesses in deciding to dismiss this appeal."

Announcing the two-month licence suspension to customers on social media, the bar's owners said: "The reason for our closure is due to a number of issues and incidents Leicester Council and Police haven't been happy with.

"We accept the decision but know we have got to implement big changes to get you guys to come through to us earlier instead of the afters bar (time for us to step away from that vibe).

They added: "As you may know we are a family run business and past few years have been tough working through covid and the long hours. We tried our hardest to keep you, our customers safe and that was our biggest objective."

Adam Carey