Northampton nightclub to introduce drug dogs and other measures after series of spiking incidents

A nightclub in Northampton will introduce drug search dogs and other measures in a bid to curb drink spiking.

NB’s in Bridge Street has seen an increase of incidents where customers have had their drinks spiked and became ill.

At the start of September, two women who ended up in hospital reported separate incidents to police. A third woman was spiked on the same weekend in Turtle Bay in Gold Street.

Last week, Chronicle & Echo reported about a 19-year-old man who was also spiked in NB’s and was admitted to hospital.

Northamptonshire Police are linking all four incidents and an investigation continues.

Now the club is also stepping up security and introducing devices from next week in a bid to stop the incidents.

Posting to the club’s Facebook page, management said: “We would like to reassure everyone who comes to our venue that we take the safety of our customers and staff extremely seriously, we are working closely with Northamptonshire Police regarding this matter to ensure we provide the safest night out for all our customers and not only deter these criminals but also support the police to catch and charge them.

“As part of our commitment to a safe night life we have invested in two devices to help protect customers’ drinks when they are in the venue.

“One is called 'spikey' which sits in your bottle and only allows space for a straw and the other is called 'nightcap' which covers your glass with a small hole for a straw.

“These will be available from next week for all customers - please enquire at the bar when ordering.

“We will also have drug dogs searching customers upon entry over the coming weekends to ensure that no drugs of any kind enter the venue.

“Alongside this we will also be carrying out full body checks upon entry by our trained security staff.

“This will include wallets and handbags to help combat these incidents and keep everyone safe with our venue.”

The ‘spikey’ devices are reusable and washable, and will be free to any customer. The ‘nightcap’ ones will be £2, but the first 200 will be given away free of charge.

Bosses from the club also addressed speculation that the drink spiking incidents are linked to members of staff.

The post continues: “This is completely untrue; our whole team has our full trust and support.

“All our staff are searched upon starting and finishing their shifts with us, they are fully trained on how to ensure we keep our customers safe when they are in our venue, including intervening when customers appear to be intoxicated, being harassed or lost.”

There have been reports on social of further drink spiking incidents in NB’s relating to this weekend (September 17 and 18).

Northamptonshire Police have been contacted about these incidents.

More to follow.