Hurst Street bar faces license review
Apr 26 2010 by Neil Elkes, Birmingham Mail
A SUBTERRANEAN city centre nightspot faces having its licence permanently withdrawn after becoming the scene of an alleged sexual assault on a 16-year-old girl.
The Glamorous Show Bar, on the edge of the Gay Village in Hurst Street, was temporarily closed following a string of crimes and drunken disorder last year.
Police were called to the venue, which billed itself as ‘camp and classy’ and featured cross-dressing performers, more than 30 times last year to deal with assaults, loutish drunken behaviour and drug offences.
And this was despite police drawing up an improvement plan with the venue in February, after the first six offences.
On November 6 there was the alleged sexual assault, which is currently the subject of criminal court proceedings and on November 14 police found a customer unconscious outside.
In a report to the council’s licencing committee Supt Sue Southern said: “It is a small venue with a capacity of just over 100. In spite of its small size it has regularly attracted crime and disorder equal to that of the largest nightclub venues with capacities of over 2,500 people.”
Police say that a key problem is the 6am closing time which meant that the bar became busy with heavily intoxicated people after other city centre clubs closed.
The venue has been shut since the licence review began at the start of this year. The management company S J and T Ltd has since gone into administration.
But the landlord Enterprise Inns is keen to keep the license to allow it to lease the bar to another operator.
Licensing chiefs meet on Wednesday to decide whether licence should be withdrawn.
