The owner of a Bromyard takeaway who breached his licence and continued to serve customers as a mass brawl took place on his premises has had his opening hours slashed.
Officers from Herefordshire Council came to the decision to restrict the Bromyard Kebab and Burger Shop’s opening hours to 12.30am on Friday and Saturday evenings at a meeting of Herefordshire Council’s Regulatory Sub-Committee.
One man was knocked unconscious and 12 people were arrested for offences ranging from violent disorder to assault as a result of the incident, which took place around 2am on Sunday, March 9. In a police background report on the incident to the committee, members heard how licence holder, Mr Isa Sorguicu, and his staff did not try to intervene in the scuffle and continued to serve members of the public.
West Mercia Police immediately lodged an application for a licence review after the incident, which was backed up by a letter of support from Bromyard Town Council after a lively public meeting in which councillors heard a number of complaints about drunken revellers in the town causing trouble at weekends.
Planning officers’ recommendations that the shop’s hours be cut back from 1.30am to 12.30am on Friday and Saturdays were adopted by the committee at a meeting at Herefordshire Council’s Brockington Headquarters on Friday, May 9.
As a condition of the licence, the shop must also employ security staff between 11pm and closing time on Friday and Saturday evenings.
Herefordshire Councillor for Bromyard Alan Seldon, who was present at the meeting, said: “I hope that this is the end of it.”
“When you get groups of people meeting in late night refreshment places, that’s when you get trouble.
“I think the message we have to get across is that the people who run these establishments have a duty of care to do something to stop incidents like these.”
Under council regulations, the licensees have 21 days to appeal to the imposed changes.
