Pub loses 5am licence bid because "Africans can be difficult to deal with"
A pub in Northampton has been banned from holding three late-night events because of the potential for trouble
The landlord of The Welcome Inn, in Upper Harding Street, Semilong, applied to Northampton Borough Council to stay open until 5am for the next three weekends.
But police objected because of previous problems at the pub, a popular venue for Northampton's African community.
At a hearing of the council's licensing committee, Pc David Bryan said licensee, Neville Etube, had previously told officers he found Africans "difficult to eject" if he was too confrontational with them.
Pc Bryan said: "The talk about Africans being difficult to deal with was a conversation Mr Etube had with a police sergeant after an incident at 5am.
"There were a number of incidents at the pub in November, one where a bottle was used in an assault.
"So police feel that if these longer opening hours were allowed it would be detrimental to the community at large."
In his defence, Mr Etube said he now regularly employed bouncers and had given safe-drinking advice to customers who thought they had to "get drunk every day".
He said: "At the moment, we have two doormen at the premises every Saturday and it's our aim to have them whenever we have an event on a Friday.
"Since this was put in place, we've not had any incidents. It's true, Africans can be difficult to deal with, but this is not only peculiar to Africans, when people have alcohol they can be difficult to deal with."
Currently, the pub is allowed to open until 1.30am on Fridays and Saturdays and midnight the rest of the week.
Committee chairman, Councillor John Caswell (Con, New Duston), said: "It's our view that if these later hours were allowed, there would be a risk of crime and disorder, so the application is refused."
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Saturday 26 May 2012
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