The party's over
by Hammersmith and Fulham Press Office
17/06/2008
The party may well and truly be over for Fulham Broadway bar Fiesta Havana, after its late night hours were drastically slashed in a licence review by Hammersmith and Fulham Council.
The rowdy nightspot became the second borough venue on Fulham Roadin two days to fall foul of the licensing sub-committee, after it refused kebab shop Koko Rico an extension to their licence. The Slug & Lettuce withdrew an application to extend its opening hours at the last minute.
The pub had wanted to serve alcohol until 1amand close at 1.30amon Thursday to Sunday – an hour more than its current licence allows each night of the week.
But on the morning of the scheduled committee meeting on Friday June 13, the Slug & Lettuce withdrew its application – the day after Havana’s had its licence stripped back to 11pm.
Both bars were formerly owned by the same company, Laurel Pub Company, before it fell into administration at the end of March this year.
At the Havana’s review, called for by the Metropolitan Police, the committee heard how the bar known for its dancing had become more known for its drunken patrons and their antics.
The police called for the review of the premises licence on the grounds of the prevention of crime and disorder, public safety and the prevention of public nuisance. They produced 71 witness statements from last November to February, and claimed to have another 60 from March this year.
These contained complaints of drunken revellers leaving the bar, excessive noise, and anti-social behaviour such as people urinating in the street.
Rachel Kapila, representing the police, said that BarclaysRoad opposite Havana’s had ‘been reduced to a public latrine’. She added: “Drunkenness is the principal issue here – people are being served alcohol when they are drunk in Havana’s. Some can barely walk on leaving the bar and some have even been described as ‘almost comatose’.”
In a written statement police officer, Ryan Shaw, described one man who had been in Havana’s all night, saying: “In six years as a police officer I have never seen such a drunk person.”
Ms Kapila said that police had given the management of Havana’s the opportunity to reduce antisocial behaviour and nuisance, in particular by drawing up an action plan in December, but that the effort made ‘had not been good enough’.
“There is a culture of drunkenness and getting drunk and Havana’s cannot wash their hands of that,” she said.
Sergeant Mark Bradford said: “Dealing with people leaving Havana’s causes us a big headache on Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights. We’re left to pick up the pieces and this impacts directly on residents and our resources.”
Inspector Penny Mills told the sub-committee about a new ‘alcohol linking scheme’ where people stopped or arrested by the police are asked where they last were drinking.
“Forty-two per cent of people we spoke to said that they had last visited Havana’s,” said Insp Mills. “Out of the ten or so licensed venues on the Broadway, this is a disproportionate figure.”
The police also claimed that the bar did not have a stringent search policy, allowed people in who were clearly drunk and made ‘minimal effort’ to disperse crowds from the immediate area of Havana’s.
There were also 11 representations from residents living nearby, including Reinhart and Claudia Nel of King Edward Mansions, on Fulham Road.
Mrs Nel said: “We get woken up at 2am, four times a week – you could set your alarm by it. The people that come out of Havana’s are completely legless. The people having sex outside our window are pretty off their faces – they must be to do that openly on the street.
“There has been excrement in gardens on Barclay Road, vomit outside the cash machine and just last week we had to phone the police because there was fighting.”
John Wallsgrove, representing Havana’s, claimed that the bar had addressed several issues flagged in the action plan, such as re-training door staff and keeping daily incident logs. He denied however that the bar had anything to do with anti-social behaviour in the area.
“There is no evidence to suggest patrons misbehave, are rowdy or anti-social within the premises. Anti-social behaviour is the individual’s responsibility – it would be wrong to say that the licence holder is responsible for the individual’s anti-social behaviour.”
Mr Wallsgrove called for the committee to impose new conditions to the licence including the offer of introducing a ‘floor walker’ to watch out for drunk patrons. But he claimed there was no need to shorten the venue’s hours, as incidents of intoxicated people were ‘isolated’ and that ‘nothing specific’ had been flagged up.
As well as reducing the bar’s licensable hours to 11pm(with half an hour’s drinking up time), the committee insisted that Havana’s followed its current licence conditions. The committee also imposed further conditions, including demanding full compliance to the action plan.
Greg Smith, Cabinet Member for Crime and Anti-Social Behaviour said: “The strength of evidence by police and residents was overwhelming. Havana’s failed to act and contributed directly to making so many residents’ lives a misery for far too long.
“Anti-social revellers have been allowed to act like animals in the streets but it falls to bar owners to live up to their responsibilities or suffer the consequences. We will continue to put residents first.”
