Wolverhampton nightclub accused of breaking Covid rules faces crunch licence hearing
A Wolverhampton city centre nightclub accused of breaking a number of Covid safety regulations will find out its fate next week.
Police and public health officers made several visits to the club on August 28 and 29 and allege the club had failed to implement measures to manage social distancing, exceeded the seated capacity deemed safe, increased noise levels and a failure to advise staff of requirements of the Covid 19 premises risk assessment to prevent the spread of the virus.
But Johnny Jones, director of Blossoms, strongly defended the measures the venue had in place and said he had offered to voluntarily close before the order was placed on them to address any concerns the authorities had. He also questioned why they had not been closed down on the first visit, if the police and public protection officers had concerns about people’s safety.
Blossoms opened in December 2018 and features DJs playing mostly drill, grime and R&B music and employs up to 33 members of staff on its busiest nights.
It was closed as a result of Covid lockdown in March this year and the August Bank Holiday weekend was the first reopening on a pre-booked table basis.
The order placed on the club following the concerns raised meant a mandatory three-week closure but Mr Jones said he chose not to reopen until the matter is resolved.
Wolverhampton Council licensing committee hearing will take place on Wednesday where the toughest sanction could see the licence revoked.
In evidence, police said music was being played very loudly and people were stood around the tables drinking on their first visit on the Friday. Similar issues were noted the following night while PC Marc Bullas said on the Sunday, August 30, he saw around 60 people queuing up outside the club and not observing social distancing rules.
On the same night, he said he was told there were 148 people in the club – when he expected a limit of 125.
The licence review application said: “There has been a flagrant disregard by the premises licence holder to uphold the licensing objectives, comply with the conditions of licence and ensure that the premises were Covid-secure. Patrons were unnecessarily put at risk.”
Mr Jones said they had followed the risk assessment that had been agreed with officers beforehand and acted when there were breaches of Covid rules – such as turning off the music when patrons were getting up and dancing.
He said the queue had been caused by people turning up on spec or arriving late for their booked tables after word got they were reopening.
Mr Jones said they were told they couldn’t come in but they ignored stickers on the floor telling them to maintain social distancing as they stood outside.
Blossoms has a capacity of around 300 but was operating at a third of that for safety reasons and budget constraints meant six door staff were hired instead of the normal 15.
Mr Jones said: “There’s been some extremely confusing mixed messages.
“We had a fully comprehensive risk assessment in place that (the council officer) signed off and we stuck to that but it still wasn’t good enough.
'Regimented'
“I’m not saying we were perfectly Covid safe that weekend. Yes, there were people getting up and dancing and yes, there were people walking around with drinks.
“But the police told us they were impressed we were turning off the music and operating it in quite a regimented way.
“My team and I on the Monday team meeting felt we had done well because the police were happy, we weren’t closed down.
“As far as we were concerned, we’d done the right thing. But they came in on the Tuesday and hit us with a Covid closure order.
“It really felt like a political play. We offered to have a voluntary closure and work with the authorities to get it right.
“But the point is, they said we were an imminent threat to public safety and yet, they let us carry on for the whole weekend.
“So if we were doing something that was causing such a threat, why were we not closed that first evening?
“Why were we allowed to trade on in that same manner with the police congratulating us for the measures we were taking only to then be told it was completely wrong?
“This isn’t fun for me. I’ve been closed seven months, opened once and had very little support. It’s tough for me and my staff.
“We want to be able to move on after this.”
