Five Brighton venues caught selling alcohol to under-age teens

Five pubs, clubs and bars in Brighton have been caught selling drink to under-age teenagers.

Sussex Police said that it would step up checks on licensed premises selling alcohol to children in the light of concerns.

Test purchases were carried out on Friday evening (16 May) involving police officers and under-age cadets.

Five pubs, clubs and bars sold the youngsters drinks, Sussex Police said. They were

• Synergy in Middle Street
• The Royal Pavilion Tavern in Castle Square
• The Haunt in Pool Valley
• The Fishbowl in East Street
• Molly Malone’s in West Street

The force said: “Licensing officers are now deciding what action should be taken against those venues.

“They could ask Brighton and Hove City Council as the licensing authority to strip each of the bars of their alcohol licence, as the Secretary of State guidance for the Licensing Act 2003 advises that, even after one sale, revocation of a licence should be seriously considered.”

Sussex Police licensing and public safety manager Jean Irving said: “We thought there was an issue with a few premises in the city who we had received intelligence about which indicated they knew they were selling drink to children and didn’t seem to care.

“This operation has made us very concerned that this isn’t an isolated problem but a widespread one in the city.

“Only two of the five venues asked the 17-year-old cadets for ID and both of them still permitted them entry when told they had none.

“Once in the premises, all sold them alcohol.

“The management in each blamed the door staff but these venues have a two-stage defence against under-age drinkers – the door staff first but then the bar staff second.

“The bar staff who sold the alcohol are issued with a £90 on-the-spot fine as it is their responsibility to ensure they do not serve alcohol to children.

“We will carry out far more operations through the summer to tackle this problem.

“Alcohol harms children and we must all play our part in protecting young people against it. It is the responsible action to take both socially and morally.”

Chief Inspector Katy Woolford said: “These are very disappointing results which indicate there is a lot of work still to do with a number of venues that are willing to sell alcohol to children.

“They have a duty of care to keep people safe, particularly the vulnerable such as children, which is clearly not the case in these five instances.”

Officers suspected that they would catch venues selling alcohol to under-age customers.

But, Sussex Police said, this was magnified when an officer travelling into the city centre by bus overheard sixth formers discussing bars and clubs.

They were listing which bars and clubs they could get into without ID and which checked the age of visitors properly.

Officers are also investigating the possibility that during the operation door staff at some venues tipped off others that licensing officers were testing pubs, clubs and bars on Friday.

This allowed some venues time to rush in emergency staff to make sure that they did not get caught out.

At one venue, a head door supervisor was heard to brief his staff to check all people for ID as officers were carrying out checks.

The force said: “Police want venues to be vigilant all the time and not just during operations.”

One positive result from the operation was that three venues that had previously sold alcohol to children all passed the test this time around.

Sussex Police said: “Wahoo, in West Street, the Funfair Club, in King’s Road, and Al Nakhl, in West Street, all asked to see ID when teenage police cadets tried to go in on Friday and refused to serve them alcohol.”

Mrs Irving said: “I’m glad that each of the three venues has taken on board what we said to them when they were last checked and have made significant improvements.

“Following police requests, Wahoo and the Funfair Club installed ID scanners that check the details of all those who try to get in to ensure they are old enough.

“These machines worked very effectively on Friday and none of our teams were able to gain entry to the venues.

“Al Nakhl’s staff have been given extra training and immediately asked our cadets for ID which meant none of them could gain entry to the venue.

“More and more venues are installing scanners because not only do they stop them being prosecuted for selling to children but they also allow them to learn more about their customers.

“They can measure when they need to have the most staff working and who their customers are which helps when they marketing their businesses.

“The bigger venues in the city have embraced their responsibility to keep children safe and already use scanners which has helped to prevent under-age drinking. The more that invest in them the better.”