City centre bar has licence suspension lifted after review hearing
A Birmingham city centre bar has had a suspension of its licence lifted at a city council hearing.
Temporary measures were put in place at The Ark Bar and Restaurant on John Bright Street last month after a ‘serious disorder’ occurred outside the venue.
The incident took place at 2.30am on Saturday, July 15, as a number of people were leaving the bar.
A police report written on July 18 claims that door staff working at The Ark ‘came across an unconscious person in the road as a result of the incident’.
The unconscious person was then allegedly ‘left without any attempt to discover the person’s condition or to provide first aid’.
The report’s author, Superintendent James Munro, said West Midlands Police had ‘no confidence’ in the bar’s management and called for a suspension of the licence.
This led to an expedited hearing on July 20 where the suspension was put in place.
City chiefs have now lifted the interim conditions at today’s summary licence review, normally conducted one month after an expedited hearing.
A raft of new security measures were agreed upon with the venue, some of which include an earlier closing time from 3am to 2am, full body searches for all persons including staff and DJs, and the appointment of a new security company.
CCTV was examined at the hearing this morning, conducted in private at the request of Mark Swallow of the police licensing team.
A statement submitted by The Ark said it accepted its operation had to ‘completely change’ and suggested many of the new measures to ‘prevent any further serious incidents occurring in the future’.
The incident on July 15 is currently the subject of a live police investigation. Mr Swallow said: “A number of people have been arrested and charged with offences as a result of this.
"That is a criminal case that would be going to court and there are other people who may be arrested.”
At the conclusion of the hearing on August 14, chair of the meeting, Councillor Diane Donaldson said: “Following an application for an expedited review made on behalf of the Chief Officer of West Midlands Police, the subcommittee hereby determines that the end one of the interim steps that were imposed at the meeting of July 17, 2023, shall be modified and replaced.”
