A Brighton restaurant has lost its late licence after police arrested staff for the way that they dealt with an intruder as well as a series of licensing rule breaches.
Sussex Police asked Brighton and Hove City Council to review the late-night refreshment licence held by Zaf’ron, in North Road, Brighton.
The request followed two nights of violence in August when the same man came in and attacked staff and smashed up the premises. Four staff were arrested.
The decision followed a lengthy hearing on Monday 6 October after the police and the council’s own licensing team called for the review.
A panel of three councillors – Julie Cattell, Sam Parrott and Kerry Pickett – decided to revoke the licence which allowed the business to sell food and soft drinks from 11pm to 3am.
Zaf’ron will now have to close the restaurant to diners and stop serving food for takeaway or delivery by 11pm each night. The business has never sold alcohol.
At the hearing Sussex Police licensing officers spent an hour in private session with the panel and Zaf’ron owner Norulah Habibi, 41, and his representative, the licensing consultant Graham Hopkins.
They discussed the incidents on Friday 1 August and Saturday 2 August which the police are still investigating.
Sussex Police previously said that, on the Friday night, an intruder smashed up the restaurant and attacked staff who took steps to defend themselves.
The perpetrator, a 63-year-old man, from Brighton, accepted a “community resolution”, requiring him to pay for the cost of repairing the damage.
He returned about 24 hours later when he was subdued by staff. The police investigation is understood to be looking at whether the staff went beyond reasonable self-defence in protecting themselves and the premises.
Of the four staff members who were arrested, three remain on police bail. The fourth faces no further action.
Sussex Police licensing officer Mark Thorogood said that the force was concerned about several breaches of licensing conditions by Zaf’ron.
They included reports of trading after 3am, taking five months to join the Brighton Crime Reduction Partnership and a closed-circuit television system that recorded the wrong time.
Mr Thorogood told the panel that at 5.45am on Thursday 3 July an off-duty licensing officer had heard the noise of loud building work coming from the premises.
When Mr Habibi said that this was impossible, Mr Thorogood revealed that he was the officer in question.
A victory for common sense. However they shouldn’t have been given the licence in the first place, as the police at the time were against
The right decision. Question still is why they were granted the 3am licence in the first place.
Why was someone who cannot speak English given a late license, or indeed any license?
Only in the UK would people defending themselves and their property get arrested. In most countries, including the US, they would be celebrated as heroes.