Wolverhampton club’s licence to be reviewed over after hours alcohol sales
A city centre club will have its licence reviewed after it was caught selling alcohol after hours.
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De Fusion Bar and Restaurant in Exchange Street, Wolverhampton, will face a licensing hearing after a routine inspection in January found the city centre venue had breached several conditions of its licence.
The council discovered De Fusion had been serving alcohol beyond its 2.30am cut-off after reviewing CCTV footage that had been eventually provided by the venue.
The initial footage sent to the council had shown the venue closed but was later discovered to be from between 2pm and 3pm.
City of Wolverhampton Council officers had visited De Fusion, opposite the local authority’s Civic Centre main offices, ahead of Wolverhampton Wanderers home game against Arsenal on January 25 to find the venue had not used door staff ahead of the 3pm kick-off and was serving pints in glass rather than plastic glasses – breaching both strict conditions of the licence.
The application to the council to review the licence also said De Fusion’s bar manager was “unaware” of the Challenge 25 policy on asking for ID from anyone buying age-restricted products who look under 25 years old.
The council also said staff had not been trained properly, there were no incident logs and “insufficient” records on maintenance checks and fire risk assessments.
The venue also did not have security and safety notices about drugs or weapons and was unable to provide requested CCTV footage within 24 hours as per the requirements of the licence.
Following the inspection on January 25, the council emailed licence holder Ikenna Orajaka who requested a follow-up visit saying the requirements for the list of breaches found during the inspection were ‘mostly in place’ and could be resolved by his attendance.
The subsequent visit again found several breaches that had not been rectified and CCTV footage viewed by officers found the bar was serving after the 2.30am cut-off.
The council asked for CCTV footage of the venue closing in the previous week but the request for the 2.30am to 3am footage was ignored and instead CCTV was provided for two different days in the month that, on review, showed the club between 2pm and 3pm when it was closed.
The council said this was a “serious concern” and requested the correct footage which, when eventually provided, showed the club still open and serving drinks after 2.30am.
West Midlands Police said it supported the review saying the results of the inspection had shown a “clear disregard” for the licence. The force said it was also investigating two separate incidents at De Fusion which added “further concern of the management of the premises.”
Wolverhampton’s public health department said it also had concerns saying the results of the inspection raised “serious concerns” – particularly over breaches that were “designed to safeguard the well-being of customers and the surrounding community.”
“In particular, the failure to provide security staff, the serving of alcohol in glasses and the failure to enforce the challenge 25 scheme,” public health said.
It is evident that staff have received insufficient training, with a lack of documentation available during the inspection. Furthermore, the premises were unable to supply CCTV footage within the requested time frame, as well as a failure to uphold fire safety regulations within the named premises.”
The council’s licensing subcommittee meets on April 30.
