City centre nightclub’s licence suspended following reported stabbings

West Midlands Police had called for an urgent licence review hearing after the incident which it described as a “major disorder” at Bambu in Wrottesley Street, Birmingham, in the early hours of September 11.

A Birmingham City Council licensing sub-committee heard on Wednesday that police are unsatisfied with the running of the premises in the wake of the “serious” incident.

The victims were both male – with one suffering stab wounds to the right shoulder and hand and the other having been reportedly stabbed in the right hip.

It has been disputed by the venue that the second person who was injured was in fact stabbed.

The meeting heard two knives were recovered from the scene – one outside the premises discarded in a drain and the other was recovered near to the dance floor upstairs.

It was also heard there was a “large amount of blood” inside the premises and a first aid kit appeared to have been used to treat the stabbing victims.

Councillors have now suspended the licence of the club and removed Jasdeep Kaul as designated premises supervisor (DPS) pending a full licensing hearing.

Mark Swallow of West Midlands Police said: “Officers were outside Bambu nightclub and were flagged down by a member of the public. He stated he didn’t feel well.

“Officers’ enquiries revealed the male had cuts to his right shoulder and hand. First aid was administered and enquiries revealed the incident had occurred on the dance floor at Bambu nightclub.

“Officers attempting to enter the premises were confronted by a large scale disorder taking place on the staircase.

“This was so ferocious that officers were forced back outside of the premises and persons were then coming out.

“Enquiries inside the premises revealed a further male with a stab injury to his right hip. This is believed to have happened in a room near to the entrance of the premises.”

The meeting heard both injured men were taken to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham to have their wounds treated and neither set of injuries are believed to be life-threatening.

Mr Swallow added no call was made by the venue to the police or ambulance “despite the severity of the incident” – but this was disputed by a representative for the club.

Mr Swallow said: “Officers at the premises have not been forthcoming with information about the incident when questioned.”

He said risk assessments are due to be carried out for all days of business events at the premises and everyone including staff are supposed to be searched for weapons under previously-set licensing conditions.

Nominated security staff are also supposed to wear body-worn cameras under the licensing conditions.

Mr Swallow said: “It is of particular concern that despite these robust licensing conditions being in place, at least two knives have been inside the premises which have then been used to cause serious injury while a mass disorder has taken place.

“The premises licence holder has failed to promote the licensing objectives and as a result of this, members of the public have been subject to vicious, unprovoked attacks with offensive weapons.

“West Midlands Police are concerned that the management failings at the premises have contributed to serious assaults taking place and wish to bring this to the urgent attention of the licensing committee.”

Barrister Duncan Craig, representing Bambu, denied the venue had not contacted the police or assisted them with enquiries.

He said: “I am not instructed to oppose the suspension of the licence. Certainly the licence holder is looking to work with the police to investigate this crime and to assist them in any way they can.

He said there are “fundamental misapprehensions” about the premises’ conduct within the police’s submissions.

He said: “This premises could not have done any more than they did on Friday night.

“The first aid kit was out because it was there to administer first aid to a member of the door staff who had been injured.

“It’s simply not correct that the premises did not inform the police, it’s simply wrong. The CCTV footage that has been taken will bear what I am saying out.

“There was an incident near to the dance floor. There was somebody who was involved in that who was asked to leave the premises.

“At that point in time it was not apparent to anybody including this individual that he had suffered a wound on his shoulder.

“He then went outside the premises and took his shirt off and the one female operative who was at the premises that evening saw that he had a cut on his shoulder and immediately following that the head door man approached officers who were on the street and told them what had happened.

“Immediately upon that, those officers attended the premises.”

He said “technically” it was correct the CCTV had been seized but said: “Not only did [the premises] provide the list of all the attendees at the event willingly, not only were they perfectly content for the police to take the hard drive which they did […] but the other thing my client did was cooperated with the police, asked the police if they wanted staff to stay or leave.”

He said everyone was asked to leave the premises after drinks service stopped at 2.18am and that led to a second incident “because some of the people who were attending did not like the fact they were being asked to leave”.

He said: “The picture that is being presented […] that the premises haven’t cooperated is just simply wrong – it’s fundamentally wrong in fact.”

He suggested the second victim slipped and cut himself on broken glass rather than being stabbed.

Mr Craig said around 400 people were attending a private birthday party on the night.

One further person has been arrested under suspicion of affray following the incident.