Sunderland's The Fort pub gets 'final, final warning' after man badly hurt in violent late-night brawl

It comes after an application to review the licence of The Fort pub in Roker Avenue was submitted to Sunderland City Council earlier this year by Northumbria Police.

Force chiefs took the action following an incident in the early hours of June 1 this year, which involved a “serious violent assault” featuring bottles being thrown and one being “smashed over the person’s head.”

Police attended after they received an “abandoned” 999 call and they subsequently discovered the “extremely serious fight” had left one individual with “substantial injuries”, according to the force’s legal representative.

They also noted a number of other issues were present at the bar during the incident including “smoking, the pub still being open after hours, the public being behind the bar, alleged drug dealing and failure to upkeep the CCTV.”

A meeting of the city council’s licensing sub-committee was initially scheduled last month to review The Fort’s premises licence – however the matter was adjourned.

This was due to the legal representative for premises licence holder John Finn being unable to attend.

During this time talks continued between Mr Finn’s team, the police and the council’s licensing department on the matter and what measures could be taken following the issues.

The matter went back before the council’s licensing sub-committee on Monday (September 22), where councillors received an update on the review application and the outcome of the discussions.

The panel heard Mr Finn had put forward eight points which he would implement to deal with the issues raised, while additional proposed conditions were also drafted by Northumbria Police.

Suggestions from Mr Finn included transferring the premises licence to Alison McNay and naming her as designated premises supervisor, with a separate application brought forward to deliver these changes.

Helen Thompson, force solicitor, said the discussion between the parties “was positive in its outcome” and the police were no longer seeking for the bar’s licence to be revoked.

Instead their proposal was that the new conditions were approved by councillors to strengthen the venue’s licence.

New measures include additional fully working CCTV cameras being installed and professional door staff being in place on Sunderland AFC match days.

Meanwhile all people involved in the previous incident will be banned and the former staff present on that day will be prohibited from returning to work at the premises – with the individuals already having been removed from their positions.

Other conditions include additional no smoking and toilet signs being put in place and that no glass bottles will be given to customers on match days or at other “high risk events”, with the liquids to be poured into plastic cups or other similar vessels.

Ms Thompson said: “It’s the police’s position that all of these conditions not only bring the licence up to scratch but also deal with all the issues that were seen in that incident on June 1st.

“I wish to be clear however that the police will obviously be keeping an eye on the premise, it was an extremely serious incident and the premise will be under scrutiny by the police.

“If there are any further incidents of this nature or any other concerns in relation to the licence then the police would not hesitate again to bring a further review and at that point would then seek to consider the revocation of the licence.”

Councillors on the sub-committee ultimately approved the suggestion from police of the venue being allowed to open with the new conditions in place.

They also approved the application to install Ms McNay as the new premises licence holder and designated premises supervisor.

Cllr Michael Hartnack, chairing the meeting, said: “Due to agreement that has been reached between the parties, we are now reasonably happy that the conditions are robust enough to overcome the issues originally raised.

“Be assured this is a final, final warning in respect of these matters.

“Any further breaches of licensing regulations at the premises known as The Fort will not be dealt with leniently by this council.”

Ms Thompson had explained how it is Mr Finn’s intention to sell the premise, which is up for sale, and there is “potential interest in relation to that.”

However in the meantime the site still has a mortgage on it that needs to be paid and as such there “needs to be revenue brought forward” and the venue therefore needs to trade.

Ms Thompson added Ms McNay, who has experience working in other city centre bars, has come in “almost as a problem shooter for a short term basis.”

The meeting heard her intention is to only open the pub on Sunderland AFC home match days for pre and post-game visitors – with the venue having no televisions to broadcast any matches.

Ms Thompson acknowledged although Mr Finn was the premise licence holder at the time of the incident and he “does take responsibility for that”, it was “understood that he wasn’t actively involved in the premise” when it occurred.

She added police believe he has taken “appropriate action” since that date, which has included terminating the lease with the individual who was previously responsible for running the bar and who was present when the incident occurred.

The meeting heard the pub has not opened up since the lease was terminated, with Mr Finn and Ms McNay “wanting the matter resolved before they opened the premises again.”