Wetherspoon was cleared of allegations made by the Fenland District Council Cabinet member for licensing that the pub chain should be sanctioned for how it dealt with a late night incident. Cllr Sam Hoy filed her complaint to the council on August 30 and a licensing subcommittee met on Tuesday to adjudicate.
Invited to comment on the review, neither the council’s own licensing team nor Cambridgeshire Police choose to do so.
“No representations were received from local residents within the statutory representation time period,” Andy Fox, senior licensing and compliance officer.
“No representations were received from any of the Responsible Authorities within the statutory time period.”
He said the application for a review was received on 30th August 2024.
“As required under the Licensing Act 2003, notice of the application was advertised on the council’s website and blue notices were placed on the premises from 2nd September,” he said.
Grounds for Cllr Hoy’s complaint were that the Wetherspoon pub in Wisbech – The Wheatsheaf – “has not upheld the licencing objectives and has failed to keep a patron safe; this could have led to wider disorder in the area and serious injury”.
But after a meeting held behind closed doors the Church Terrace public house was exonerated.
The committee ruled no further action was necessary: councillors had viewed CCTV of the incident which focused on the allegations made by Cllr Hoy.
Wetherspoon, required by licensing law to maintain CCTV footage, were happy for the subcommittee to view the alleged incident.
A Wetherspoon spokesperson told CambsNews: “The application for review was brought by a local councillor who claimed that a disagreement involving one of her constituents in the pub had not been correctly dealt with by the pub’s management on the night leaving him unsafe.
Cllr Hoy had no regard for public safety when she and other Wisbech Cllrs breached Covid rules and witnessed the then Mayor of Wisbech and landlord of the Angel Inn totally disregarding Covid/ health and safety legislative requirements.
— Trevor Darnes (@DarnesTrevor) October 24, 2024
“Wetherspoon’s representatives at the hearing outlined its policies and procedures in this area, in which all employees are trained, to the council’s licensing committee.
“They explained that after investigating the events in question, including a review of the CCTV, the company was satisfied that the matter had been dealt with appropriately with no risk to the customer concerned.”
The spokesperson added: “As a result, the committee decided that no further action was required in response to the review application.”
As of today (October 24) Fenland District Council has declined to issue their own statement of the outcome of the review.
Although most hearings are in public, the subcommittee voted to exclude the press and the public.
Ahead of the hearing, the council published details of Cllr Hoy’s claims.
She said that on August 29, 2024, between 11pm and midnight “my constituent was out at the Wheatsheaf with a small group of young friends (19 years) when a group of travellers in their 30’s tried to start a fight with them.
“They followed them around and harassed them and said they would be waiting outside for them when they left.
“My constituent reported this to the bar staff but received no help and in fact was sneered at.
“He asked if they could call the police but was told the police would laugh at him. He said if he left the pub he would get beaten up as they were clearly waiting for him as could be seen clearly.”
Cllr Hoy alleged that “the manageress said it didn’t matter and he had to leave”.
She said her constituent “was fortunately taken out the back exit by a family friend but the travellers waited outside for approximately 1 hour”.
She said the following morning her constituent’s father went into the pub to make a complaint about this “and they said they would call back but have not done so.
“Had my constituent gone out the front as instructed by the manageress it is likely he would have been severely injured.
“This would had also had an impact on the wider community.”
Cllr Hoy added: “The Wheatsheaf has a duty to protect its customers, particularly when a concern is raised. Not only did they ignore the request for help but actually made fun of the request. This is not the correct way for a licenced premise to behave.
“They do not appear to take public safety seriously or look to prevent harm.
“They did not ban the customers that were unruly, they did not escalate any concerns, once it was raised again in the morning they still did not take action.”
She said: “If they do not have procedures in place for this sort of thing and if the existing staff are unable to deal with incidents they should have trained SIA (Security Industry Authority) staff for this type of matter.”
FACT FILE
The Licensing Act 2003 explains what actions the Sub-Committee can take. They can make a decision at the end of the hearing or up to five working days afterwards. They may:
- decide that no action is necessary; or
- modify or add conditions to the licence; or
- exclude a licensable activity from the licence; or
- remove the designated premises supervisor; or
- suspend the licence (for up to 3 months); or
- revoke the licence
