A landlord has said it is “business as usual” after a request for a licence review of his pub by police was dropped.
The Sans Pareil pub on Frindsbury Hill in Strood was the subject of a request for a licence review following an incident on the night of the Euros cup final between England and Spain (July 15).
A man was punched to the ground and staff at Medway hospital reported he had no feeling down one side of his body.
The police submitted a request to Medway Council for the designated premises supervisor (DPS) and landlord Ben Chell to be removed from the licence because they claimed he had been uncooperative with their investigation – something Mr Chell robustly denied.
But now, the application has been withdrawn and Mr Chell says he can not understand why it got to this point.
He said: “I’m not happy about it. This was only because of a form not being filled in. That’s all they had on me.
“I sat down with the council’s licensing department and they said exactly the same. They do not know why this was done.
“This has been damaging, the online abuse I’ve suffered for nothing. Absolutely nothing.
“This has been a total waste of time. I am a big part of this community, I’ve lived around here all my life and this has been damaging for us.
“But thankfully I have seen through it. It is was it is and we draw a line under it and get on, business as usual.”
In the original report to the council, police claimed Mr Chell had not prioritised reporting the incident on the night of the Euros and had not ensured the CCTV system was recording at the time.
The CCTV system had failed to record during the incident due to power cuts in the area because of roadworks.
Mr Chell had agreed to put in place new conditions on the licence about ensuring the CCTV was in operation and around reporting incidents.
These included ensuring the CCTV cameras covered all areas of the pub, the system recordings were time-stamped and available to police upon request, and that any fault with the system should be reported to the police within 24 hours.
However, the report submitted by Kent Police said by September 10, Medway Council had still not received the request from the Sans Pareil for the changes to their licence despite follow-up emails from the police.
Mr Chell said he had done everything they had asked, but had been away and so the application for the changes had been delayed – he added he had also spent £400 on a new CCTV system.
Following the report, a request for the minor changes agreed between the pub and the police has been made.
Kent Police say their conditions have been met and withdrew their request on September 18.
The licence request to remove Mr Chell as DPS was retracted on September 18 and so will not go to a hearing at Medway Council.
