Tropical Harmony shut down
A nightclub where a father was fatally shot in front of revellers has been stripped of its licence.
A nightclub where a father was fatally shot in front of revellers has been stripped of its licence.
Tropical Harmony, in Bilston, will close down for good following the death of Danny 'Dannyman' McCalla. Mr McCalla was shot at the notorious High Street night spot in the early hours of November 22.
Licensing chiefs agreed to close the club following an application from police.
Michael Pearce, West Midlands Police licensing officer, told a licensing sub committee the club had been the scene of a "catalogue" of disturbances over 55 months.
"The attitude of the police now is we have explored every possible avenue and have advised everything we could have advised but it has got to a stage where this premises has got completely out of hand," he said.
The committee heard how bosses were ordered to put eight safety measures in place last year, following another shooting in which owner Derek Chambers, his brother Howard and security staff Trinnett Dunckley were wounded.
These included the last sale of alcohol at 2am, the club must be cleared by 3am and all punters must be searched with a hand held metal detector upon entry.
On the night of Mr McCalla's shooting, which happened at 4.25am, several of these conditions had been breached.
Ade Otukoya, who owns the club but leased it out, told yesterday's meeting he would not oppose the application to revoke the licence.
But he added: "I find it difficult to reasonably justify any objection to almost everything that has been said but my only suggestion is that this is a much bigger problem and I think that if I was convinced that closing the place down would solve the problem I would be the first to say that."
Chairman of the sub-committee Councillor Bishan Dass said the council was committed to clearing the streets of gun crime.
"We take it very seriously as the representative responsible for looking after the city and and anything like that."
The club's licence had already been temporarily suspended following the shooting. Bosses now have 21 days to appeal the decision to revoke Tropical Harmony's licence. Wolverhampton South MP Pat McFadden today welcomed the move following yesterday's meeting.
"I called for the club to be closed and I believe this is the right decision," he said.
"My constituents will welcome the withdrawal of the licence from this club which has been the scene of two shooting incidents in a little over a year."
Father-of-three Mr McCalla, aged 50, from Dudley was taken to New Cross Hospital with gunshot wounds, where he later died.
His family paid tribute to a "people's person who affected everybody's life in a good way."
Another man was injured at the club, after suffering some kind of blow.
