This meeting of the Licensing Sub-Committee (1) was to determine whether to uphold, modify or withdraw interim steps taken against the Concept Club on Duke Street in the West End on 18 July 2024 and to determine a full review of the club's licence. The interim steps, taken after a fight involving 15 people in the club during the early hours of 15 July 2024, were to suspend the club's licence with immediate effect.

Review of Concept Club licence

The report pack contains a summary review application from the Metropolitan Police Service, submitted on 16 July 2024. The summary review application says that the police believe that the Premises are associated with serious crime or serious disorder or both. The application gives details of what happened on 15 July 2024, explains that the club's designated premises supervisor called the police and ambulance services, and notes that one person was found to have a stab wound, another was found unconscious with a head injury, and a third person, who was a security guard at the venue, was found with laceration injuries to the face.

The application says that, when police arrived at the venue, a member of staff was cleaning the area, breaching a condition of the venue's licence which requires them to preserve crime scenes. The report says that the police requested further documents from the club as required under the Licence but that the premises were unable to provide them, resulting in further breaches of the licence conditions. The application notes that, because of the seriousness of the incident, the breaches of licence conditions and a clear lack of control of the Premises the Police believe that the Premises have failed to uphold the prevention of crime and disorder licensing objective.

The report pack also contains a representation from the council's Environmental Health Service in support of the review. The representation states that Environmental Health supports this review based on the evidence submitted. The representation states that, as well as particular concerns with regards to the Prevention of Crime and Disorder licensing objective, the service also has concerns that the licensing objectives of Prevention of Public Nuisance and for Public Safety are also likely to be undermined by how the current operator utilises the Premises Licence including not complying with the licence conditions in fact and in spirit.

The Licensing Authority¹ has also submitted a representation to the review. The representation says that the Licensing Authority have considered the application that the Metropolitan Police have submitted initially for a summary review and now full review and have concerns in relation to the operation of the premises and how the premises promote the four Licensing Objectives. It says that the Licensing Authority raise particular concern to the prevention of crime and disorder when taking into account the evidence the Police have submitted along with their grounds for review of the premises licence, and notes that the Secretary of State's guidance on the Licensing Act 2003 says that Where reviews arise and the licensing authority determines that the crime prevention objective is being undermined through the premises being used to further crimes, it is expected that revocation of the licence – even in the first instance – should be seriously considered. The representation concludes by saying that the Licensing Authority have extreme concerns that the Premises Licence Holder is not promoting the four Licensing Objectives, especially the prevention of Crime and Disorder and Public Safety, or complying with the conditions attached to the premises licence and that, for these reasons, the Licensing Authority submit a formal representation.

The report pack includes copies of 18 representations from residents and other interested parties in support of the review. They highlight a number of incidents in which customers of the club had been violent or disruptive, causing public nuisance and fear for personal safety. Some of the representations also highlight that the residents had attempted to seek help from the council's noise service, without success.

The report pack also includes the Concept Club's licence and a chronology of the club's applications for licences, variations, temporary event notices², and appeals.