A Brighton restaurant could lose its licence after Sussex Police applied for a formal review.
The police made the request after an incident last month when staff called for officers to attend the Monarch Bar and Restaurant, in King’s Road, Brighton, to deal with a “problem customer”.
A report prepared for a Brighton and Hove City Council licensing panel on Tuesday (21 February) includes the police application for immediate action to prevent “serious crime and incidents where harm or injury may be caused to the public”.
Monarch is on the site of the former Buddies restaurant and has a 24-hour alcohol licence.
From 1am to 9am, alcohol can only be sold to people taking a “full table meal”. But at all other times it is covered by “café conditions” where food must be available and customers cannot stand and drink.
Monarch is currently closed and under refurbishment. It was operated by Sunset Brighton Limited, run by its director, 22-year-old Ellis Cheesman. His fellow director Stephen Darby, 62, resigned last September.
The designated premises supervisor (DPS), responsible for alcohol sales, is former Buddies director and well-known Brighton and Hove businessman Andrew Cheesman.
Mr Cheesman, 56, stayed on as DPS to support the new directors, one of whom is his nephew, when they took over the business in 2021.
The meeting papers for the licence review included a report saying that Monarch called for help from a Mobile Support Unit on Monday 23 January to eject a “problem customer”.
The report said that Ellis Cheesman had said that the customer had “been causing issues” and had been punched by another customer.
The report, signed by Superintendent Richard Bates, said that the “intoxicated” man had an eye injury and the police took him to the hospital accident and emergency (A&E) department.
While at A&E, the man’s behaviour deteriorated and he was arrested for being drunk and disorderly.
Police asked for closed-circuit television (CCTV) footage from the premises but it was not sent as required within 48 hours of the request.
The report said that Ellis Cheesman also failed to provide security camera footage after other incidents – in April, May, July and September last year. This resulted in a meeting with Sussex Police.
Other incidents were listed in the police report
- On Tuesday 19 April police were called after an assault.
- On Saturday 7 May police attended a large fight involving weapons “within the vicinity” of Monarch.
- On Saturday 23 July the staff made several calls to the police after a man, believed to have been armed, was refused entry.
- On Sunday 24 July police witnessed drug dealing in the area and a man with a knife who was known to have been at Monarch earlier in the evening.
- On Friday 29 July police were called after Monarch security staff were assaulted by a man.
- On Friday 16 September police were called to help security staff who had “lost control” of a group of people on the premises and officers “identified a suspect” with drugs and drug paraphernalia at the venue.
- On Friday 14 October police were called to an “altercation” at the restaurant and a man was found with a knife.
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The report claimed that there was suspected drug use at the restaurant but, unusually for this kind of report, provided no supporting evidence of positive drug swab results.
Superintendent Bates said: “The number of incidents listed above have caused an ongoing concern in relation to anti-social behaviour (ASB), drug use, crime and persons who police believe are linked to criminality.
“The most recent incidents and questionable behaviour of (the) manager and DPS have seriously undermined the trust and confidence in the premises management and DPS to promote the licensing objectives.”
Mr Darby and Ellis Cheesman are no longer licence holders at the premises and Andrew Cheesman said that he was working positively with police on future licence conditions for the restaurant.
A panel of three councillors is due to decide what steps should be taken at a hearing which is due to start at 10am on Tuesday (21 February). The meeting is scheduled to be webcast on the council’s website.
The cause of the problems in our city is WE HAVE NO POLICE ON THE BEAT, Drug dealing and taking is ignored by the Police who then blame bars etc. If we had visable police it would sort out the vast majority of problems. Our nightlife is policed by private security, but on the odd occasion the Police are needed the Police moan as they have to get out of their cars. THE POLICE NOW OBJECT TO EVERY LICENCE THAT IS APPLIED FOR BASICALLY BECAUSE THEY ARE NO LONGER VIABLE.
Nope, data supports a correlation between late opening clubs and pubs, and antisocial and illegal behaviours. There is a fair argument to be made towards a preventative approach.
Our nightlife is policed by private security, the police are now a very poor back-up for when things go wrong and blame well run venues for calling them. Drugs are very freely available as the Police ignore the open dealing as basically they are not around to witness it.
The biggest problem by far for ASB is the 24hr shops that sell booze to anyone. Venues have security to keep people under control, shops do not .
Robert Pattinson
Some years ago there was a change in roles and responsibilities and reclassification of some crimes.
The police were responsible for Traffic Wardens but BHCC decided to take on that role but their Civil Enforcement Officers have less power that the TW’s, a TW could instruct you to move and could book you if you refused for instance whereas a CEO can only ticket a vehicle.
Graffiti was a crime that was reclassified as Anti-social behaviour and came the responsibility of the BHCC along with other matters.
Security is another area BHCC has taken on with so called Marshalls (before covid) and private security firms effectively policing our streets.
The police closed a bar because the staff didn’t call them . They want to close a restaurant because the staff keep calling them . They don’t want tables outside the newly refurbished Dome because they might attract crime. Pavillion Gardens may be fenced off due to crime and public toilets are closing due to crime levels.
The only people the police aren’t holding to account for rising crime levels seem to be the criminals and the police
That’s a bit disingenuous. Prevention is far better than cure, however prohibition historically never works well, so there is a balance to work out. Increase in crime is linked to the cost of greed crisis.
Toilets are very much a cost cutting exercise by the council, there’s still a £14 million shortfall to work out.
So true. Crime is up because we no longer have visable police. I can walk along Western road and often see open drug dealing and taking. Because the Police are failing to keep drugs off our streets they now blame venues for their own failings.
Agree with the observations that police are not visible. I only see them sat in their cars. There ought to be a zero tolerance approach to anti social behaviour and drug dealing and taking. I’ve regularly passed by this establishment in the morning and there are always inebriated folks loitering outside behaving badly.
so they just blame the venue for problems also “within the vicinity”. They patrol seafront constantly and strong police presence thurs fri sat,buddies ran for 25 plus years as a 24 hour venue licensed to sell alcohol,
then refurbed to Monarch, they pick up the blame for people leaving the beach at 3am/5am after spending the night in clubs,I bet the incident reports for the adjacent West street and area in the Laines are 10 times higher