Club could close due to crime (From The Wiltshire Gazette and Herald)

Club could close due to crime

9:05am Thursday 6th September 2007 in Swindon By Gazette Reporter

A nightclub which has caused more than 100 calls to the police this year - including one report of a large-scale fight with knives - could be shut down.

Angelo's nightclub, one of the first in Swindon to get a 24-hour drinking licence, has been linked to 111 emergency calls since the start of the year and police say the venue has been associated with 85 crimes since July 5 last year.

There have been 23 incidents of anti-social behaviour there since the beginning of July.

On one night a 15-year-old boy had been drinking in the club for hours before he attacked a man, kicking him in the head.

On another a woman was arrested after getting into a fight with another woman and in a separate incident a man who had been drinking in the club was found at Swindon train station in just his underwear.

The club's door staff have come under fire for not stopping fights and allowing offenders to leave after the trouble has ended.

They have also let in violent men who were barred from all the town centre venues on the Pubwatch scheme.

Much of the trouble at the club has occurred after 4am, when the rest of the bars in town are closed.

Police have successfully applied for the council to review the Fleet Street venue's licence and the panel will meet after September 28.

The club could be closed down, as happened with Mbargo in Fleet Street last year, or face a change in its opening hours.

Swindon police licensing officer Geoff Hicks completed the application for the review. In it he wrote: "During the latter months of 2005 and the first three months of 2006 the premises of Angelo's came to the police's attention due to the number of incidents which were considered to be in breach of the licensing objectives.

"Police had given verbal warnings to the management of Angelo's over a period of time but it was considered prudent to arrange a formal meeting to discuss remedial measures to correct the situation."

On March 30, 2006, police met owner Angelo Rossi and his son Guglielmo.

Mr Hicks wrote: "The outcome, in the short term, was a significant reduction in the number of incidents and crimes reported.

"However, there has been an appreciable rise in similar occurrences since April, 2006, which has led to this review application."

Angelo's, along with Gangsters Snooker Club in the town centre, was the first place in Swindon to get a 24-hour drinking licence in November 2005.

Under new licensing laws introduced at the time the council now has the power to close the club down if they decide it is in the interests of preventing trouble and protecting the public.