Police object to pub's late licence application

Walkabout wants to open until 6.30am to show Tyson Fury fight

THAMES Valley Police (TVP) is urging West Berkshire Council to refuse an application to allow the Walkabout bar to extend its operating hours for a one-off event in December, amid a number of drunk and disorderly incidents at the venue in recent months.

The Australian-themed bar, in Cheap Street, wants to increase its opening hours to screen a boxing showdown between Deontay Wilder and Tyson Fury, which is expected to start at 5am on Sunday, December 2.

If Walkabout’s application is approved, this would mean the sale of alcohol and the provision of late-night entertainment would last until 6.30am.

The bar has applied for a Temporary Events Notice – commonly referred to as a TEN – which seeks permission from the local authority to open past its normal operating hours.

A decision on the application – which would cost the bar just £21 – will be made by the council’s licensing committee on Tuesday.

But TVP has raised strong objections to the application in light of a spate of incidents that have occurred at the venue this year.

A formal objection notice issued by the force references two previous occasions when a TEN was granted at Walkabout this year.

On April 9, a TEN was used to increase the premises’ hours in order to televise a wrestling match and another was issued on October 7 when a mixed martial arts fight was screened.

In the early hours of April 10, at 3.50am, a victim who had specifically attended the premises to watch the wrestling was assaulted.

In the early hours on October 8, a member of the door staff was punched in the head before an intoxicated male, who was ejected from the premises, was arrested by officers who had been stationed opposite the venue in anticipation of the pub’s longer opening hours.

TVP argues the issuing of a TENS will likely lead to further incidents of crime and disorder and undermine, rather than promote, licensing objectives.

This, the force says, is both due to the timing of the event and recent concerns relating to incidents of crime and disorder at the premises.

A Licensed Premises Summary Report, issued by the force, documents a string of incidents relating to disorderly behaviour outside the venue – formerly known as The Diamond Tap – between January 1 and November 10.

Details have emerged of pub goers verbally abusing Walkabout staff and the pub’s doormen after being ejected from the venue, while others have behaved in a threatening or aggressive manner.

Other disorderly incidents relate to intoxicated drinkers assaulting members of the police and others at the venue.

Among the ‘less serious’ offences was a male subject who was seen sitting in a booth with a group of females on a night in August.

The man reportedly asked them to marry him, before taking their hands and placing them on his genitals against their will.

The male was then escorted out of the bar by door staff, before he assaulted a doorman.

Three separate incidents of customers possessing cannabis have also been reported during the same timeframe, while there have been two further incidents of pubgoers with cocaine, as well as another in possession of amphetamines.

Last month, Reading magistrates heard how victim Mark Aitken was so seriously injured trying to defuse an argument in the venue he needed an operation after being punched to the ground by another man.

Part of the objection notice read: “Thames Valley Police would like to draw the attention of the sub-committee to the volume of incidents that occur at this premises, many of which require some form of police action or call for service.

It added: “We ask the sub-committee to consider the negative impact that this has on the provision of policing for the town centre, but also the ‘knock-on effect’ created by drawing resources away from the West Berkshire area as a whole.”