Police concern at longer nightclub hours

Vaults on Gandy Street have had their hours extended

An Exeter nightclub will be able to stay open until 4.30am, despite police concerns that it will lead to lead to an increase crime and disorder in the area.

Exeter City Council’s Licensing Sub-Committee on Friday morning approved an application by Vaults to vary the condition of their licence to extend the opening hours until 4.30am every night of the week.

It came despite the police raising concerns about the plans and Sgt Mike Norsworthy, licensing sergeant for Devon, saying it will have a detrimental impact on the service that the police can provide to the wider community of Exeter

Vaults, in Gandy Street, will now be allowed to stay open until 4.30am every day of the week and to serve alcohol until 4am, although no customers will be admitted to the club after 2.30am, rather than the 3.30am that they had applied for.

Outlining her application, Coral Williamson-Rush, the manager of Vaults told the committee that they were known as a popular late night venue in Exeter but they wanted to extend their hours partly to reduce the pressures of everyone in Exeter leaving late night premises at the same time, and also to provide somewhere for people who work in the industry who finish earlier in the evening to come and enjoy their night and have a drink.

Councillors questioned there would be an influx of customers trying to get into Vaults at 3.30am once other premises in the city close, but Coral said that the last entry at 3.30am would mitigate that, the capacity of Vaults is only 150 anyway, and there would be security to patrol outside to control the noise levels and make sure patrons disperse in an orderly manner.

She added: “We are well known to be an LGBTQ+ venue so a lot of people don’t come to us as they don’t want to go to a gay bar. The type of clientele that you are concerned about – groups of men who are drunk and just wanted another beer – don’t tend to come to us. We don’t allow large groups of males in anyway and that kind of clientele walk past and say they don’t want to go into a gay bar anyway.”

Cllr Rob Newby, chairman of the committee, also raised concern at a list of 19 police incidents associated with the venue in the last six months, with a particular number including those in drink.

But Coral said that not all of the incidents involved patrons who had attended Vaults, and one incident was where a gentlemen who hadn’t been anywhere near the venue all night and was walking past pulled a knife on staff and so they had to call the police.

She added: “I am not going to lie, there may be incidents of drinking until 4.30am, so the question is how we manage it. We would have security outside so that would reduce incidents once people leave the premises and they will martial and make sure people are dispersed.

“We are a safe environment for people to go out and drink and we get some incidents but we deal with them appropriately when they do happen.”

Sgt Norsworthy though said that while not all of the crime can be directly attributed to the premises, the majority of crimes can be. He added: “This demonstrates the level of crime in the area. Since the application was submitted in March, there have been 10 crimes, including assault and sexual assaults, most of which involve people ‘in drink’.”

David Adams-Leach, police licensing officer, added: “Over the last six months there have been 19 recorded crimes ranging from common assault to sexual assault. Although this is not excessive it shows that the police are regularly attending incidents at the venue. Pushing the closure time to one hour later will detrimentally affect the policing plan which has been set and would have to be significantly altered to ensure officers can cover the extra demand.”

He did though add that he had no concerns about the management of Vaults.

Sgt Norsworthy added: “Granting this extension would have a detrimental service that the police can provide to the wider community of Exeter. If successful, other premises may apply for an extended licence as well. The police object strongly to this as it will impact on existing levels or crime and public nuisance in the area.

“We would want the 2am no entry condition to be retained. I was not happy when they wanted 3am and dumbstruck when I found out today they wanted to change it to 3.30am.

“We need to mitigate the migration of people coming to this premises. Half the world will be trying to get there but they cannot get in because it is a small venue and there will be a no entry condition. Opening for a further hour will create an extra demand and will increase crime and disorder and have serious ramifications for the area.”

The committee agreed to vary the licence to allow Vaults to open until 4.30am, but chose not to allow them to extend the time of last entry from 2.30am to 3.30am as requested.

Cllr Newby said: “We will be watching this very carefully and anyone can call for a review if the conditions are breached.”

The variation of the licence takes effect immediately and so Vaults can stay open until 4.30am tonight.