Wolverhampton venue’s licence suspended over after hours drinking

City of Wolverhampton Council has suspended the licence of De Fusion Bar and Restaurant in Exchange Street, Wolverhampton, for two weeks after the venue had been found to have breached several conditions of its licence – including serving alcohol after hours.

The licensing hearing on April 30 heard how officers had inspected the venue 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.

Staff had not been trained properly, there were no incident logs and “insufficient” records on maintenance checks and fire risk assessments, and the venue did not have drug safety notices nor could it provide CCTV within 24 hours.

Bar owner Ikenna Orajaka told the hearing the venue had been struggling to attract customers for months and could not afford to hire door staff. He claimed the club had received no customers during an hour-long visit by the council to prove his point.

He said the venue would usually remain empty on Saturday afternoons but he would open the bar for just a single family on occasions. “It is an error on our part but we did it just for him,” he told the hearing after Cllr Jill Wildman had told him “the rules applied to everyone.”

The supply of the wrong CCTV to the council was a “genuine mistake” according to Mr Orajaka – footage that nevertheless still proved that drinks had been served after hours. Mr Orajaka

Mr Orajaka told the hearing: “Am I inexperienced? Yes. Have I made mistakes? Of course. Am I irresponsible? I am not.”

The bar owner’s presentation “impressed” the committee, according to licensing chair, Cllr Zee Russell who had earlier said the venue was one of the “worst cases” she had heard, with Mr Orajaka telling councillors he had gone to great lengths to rectify the concerns raised during January’s inspection.

Nevertheless, the committee ruled the breaches were of a “serious nature” to warrant a two-week suspension.

West Midlands Police had supported the licence 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.”

Those concerns were presented during a private session of the hearing on April 30 due to the ongoing police investigation.

The venue’s closing time remained at 3am – with drinks allowed to be served until 2.30am – after Mr Orajaka pleaded for the committee to reconsider moving the club’s closing time to 1am saying the restriction would put him out of business.

The hearing heard how following the inspection on January 25, the council had emailed Mr Orajaka as the licence holder after he 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 found several breaches that had not been rectified and CCTV footage viewed by officers found the bar was serving after its 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.