A city centre club could lose its licence after failing to replace an outdated CCTV system.
Beet’s Lounge in Pipers Row, opposite Wolverhampton Bus Station, will face a licensing hearing after failing to replace its aging cameras and twice being caught by police without door staff.
West Midlands Police had called for the review over repeated failures to replace an outdated and inadequate CCTV system and for twice visiting the Pipers Row club to find no door staff working.
City of Wolverhampton Council’s public health team said the lack of even basic compliance was putting the public at risk.
The licensing committee, which has the power to strip the club of its licence over the failures, meets on August 13 to make a decision.
The club was formerly known as Manhattan’s and Chicago’s before opening as Beet’s Lounge in 2024.
In a report published ahead of the hearing, West Midlands Police said there were no door staff present at the club when it was visited by police during a late-night patrol of the city centre in January which was a breach of the venue’s licence.
Beet’s Lounge was visited again in March and again there was no security at the club’s entrance.
West Midlands Police said the club was using an outdated CCTV system that was only in use during opening hours and required a CD to be inserted manually to record footage.
Only three camera feeds were visible on the CCTV monitor with the rest “non-functional” according to the licensing review application.
The force said the club’s licence holder Emmanuel Ndecha Obase Etukeni was also unable to use the CCTV system when asked and officers found several unlabelled discs.
The club was told that until the old CCTV system was replaced, it was essential a responsible person ensured that recordings were being made – with police stressing that viewing the footage would be a requirement if an incident took place and failure to do so would be another breach of the club’s licence.
Mr Etukeni was told he had 28 days to fix the issues raised by police including missing and blank staff logs and incident reports as well as the ongoing CCTV problems and lack of door staff.
A request for CCTV footage was made by West Midlands Police in May which ‘remains outstanding’ and several attempts for follow-up visits were either ignored or cancelled by the club owner Mr Etukeni. A scheduled visit in June was also missed by the club owner according to the report.
In early June, the council was told the DPS had withdrawn consent meaning alcohol sales were no longer permitted. CCTV footage was again requested for the June weekend which showed the club empty.
But police said Mr Etukeni later admitted on a phone call that alcohol had been served believing a licence application had been made in time – an application that was later refused as incomplete.
Another visit later that June found the CCTV system still had issues with only a week’s worth of footage recorded when requested rather than the month required.
Till receipts could also not be provided, police said.
During the last visit on June 17, police told the licence holder that the venue must not open to the public until the CCTV was fixed.
In a response to the review application, City of Wolverhampton Council’s public health team said: “These breaches significantly undermine the licensing objectives and present a risk to public health and community safety.
“The lack of basic compliance measures, such as staff training, record keeping, and functional CCTV, is particularly concerning in a night-time economy setting.”
Comments
Add a comment