Warrington licensee alleges police ‘vendetta’
Bar owner Steve Hewitt of Fusion on Bridge St accused the police of conducting a vendetta against him after they failed to achieve a revocation of his licence at review.
He said the alleged breaches relate to his personal licence not being available on the premises on two occasions and the summary of the licence not being on display, which Hewitt claimed was because it was being amended by the council.
The bar was taken to a licence review in December, following allegations of brawls outside the outlet — which led to a three-month suspension of the licence and new conditions.
Court summons
However, Hewitt, who took over the bar in September, said when he went to the police station to collect the keys he was arrested by officers who said he failed to appear at court after a summons for the same licensing breaches. Hewitt claims he did not receive the summons because it was sent to his previous address.
He now faces trial next week, which, if he is convicted, could lead to a criminal record and a fine of up to £20,000 — as well as a
maximum six-month jail sentence.
Hewitt said he planned to reopen the bar this week, but added he would be “surprised if we have any customers left considering the way the police have labelled us as being violent and run badly”.
'Disbelief'
Paul Douglas, who defended Hewitt at the review, said if a licensing condition is breached while a bar is serving alcohol, that constitutes an unlicensable activity and the licensee can, therefore, then be prosecuted through the criminal courts.
However, he said: “The feeling in Warrington is disbelief. Even though the police can pursue this through a criminal court, why are they? This has been dealt with at a civil hearing and now they want another bite of the cherry — a great expense to Steve who has to defend himself.
“Neither myself nor anyone I know has known the police to do this anywhere else.”
A spokeswoman from Cheshire Police said: “Hewitt had failed to appear at court for the original licensing offences and a warrant had been issued by the court.”
In a separate development earlier this year, licensees in the town told the Publican’s Morning Advertiser they would no longer call police to incidents for fear it would be used as evidence against them in reviews.
This move followed meetings at which council and police officers tried to persuade publicans to close earlier, after an attempt to get an early morning restriction order was rejected last year.
