The Birmingham nightclub where a footballer was stabbed to death on Boxing Day has had its license permanently revoked.
Cody Fisher, 23, was stabbed to death during a brawl at an event at Crane nightclub in Digbeth.
Birmingham City Council’s Licensing Commission on Tuesday permanently revoked the club’s license, continuing an existing suspension first handed down on 30 December.
The club’s licensee is Damian Eston, director of Digital Arts Media Ltd, who has many years of experience organizing large events in Birmingham’s nightlife industry.
At a hearing on Tuesday, West Midlands Police called on councilors to revoke the club’s license, saying the venue poses a “serious risk” to public safety.
Gary Grant, a barrister representing the police, said the club had a “poor search regime” and that drug use was “blatant and extensive”.
Video footage of the night of Fisher’s death, widely shared on social media, shows someone inhaling from a balloon believed to contain nitrous oxide yards away from police and emergency services. was showing
During the Boxing Day event, Grant said three club fans, including a woman who was described as having “a dripping mouth and barely breathing” before being taken to the hospital in an ambulance, were at the venue due to drug use. had to be carried out.
“Management and security were reckless or simply didn’t care what was going on at the venue,” said Grant.
The club began operations on October 15, after being licensed in June, the public hearing said.
Eston had contracted RTC Medical Solutions, a private ambulance service, to provide medical assistance to the venue, but the company refused to increase its level of insurance, according to evidence filed with the Licensing Commission. He stopped working at the club in early December.
Eston recommended four first responders and an ambulance for the club’s opening event, but Eston chose to hire two first responders instead, according to a submission from licensing enforcement officer Shaid Ali. The thing says
“In their opinion, the level of medical coverage was not safe for them to continue,” Ali said.
A police officer present at the Boxing Day incident described the “scene of chaos and evidence of drug use” and was asked by staff to help with crowd control.
One sergeant said staff seemed “unaware of what was going on” and began trying to clear the dance floor despite it being an active crime scene.
“Hundreds of little medicine bags and nitrous oxide canisters were all over the dance floor,” the officer said.
A council environmental officer said he has been in contact with the club numerous times on issues related to “public safety and public nuisance.”
Some opposed the club’s closure, including Simon Morrall, a Conservative city councilor and former nightclub promoter. He said closing the venue “sends a message to criminals that they can get away with this.”
“These cases just happen elsewhere,” he said, calling instead on the council to work with clubs to install metal detectors at venue entrances and other clubs in the city. rice field.
“Birmingham’s night economy is a fraction of what it was ten years ago. We don’t use sledgehammers to solve problems. I have to make sure it is fulfilled.”
