Ex-Wolves footballer’s controversial plea to keep his wine bar open later has been rejected - here's why

Ex-footballer Mo Camara asked for permission to open his Chill Wine Bar in Tettenhall, Wolverhampton, half an hour later but the plea was rejected by City of Wolverhampton Council over fears it would add to late-night noise issues.

The former Wolverhampton Wanderers defender had asked for permission to open until 1am and play live and recorded music until 12.30am.

The bar’s licence was suspended in 2024 after a number of late-night lock-ins and the council has revealed the venue is being investigated and its licence reviewed again after repeated lock-ins earlier this year.

At the licensing hearing on December 9, the council’s environmental health officer said the wine bar had been investigated again over late-night noise and CCTV had shown the venue again serving alcohol and playing loud music after hours on two consecutive nights in September.

The footage showed the wine bar was still open at 1.20am despite an agreed 12.30am closing time.

City of Wolverhampton Council said the issues which led to the licence being suspended 18 months ago had already been repeated and extending the hours would “only exacerbate them further.”

Cllr Zee Russell told Mr Camara at the hearing: “You have got to go some way to prove that you are not going to keep falling foul of the breaches that you have already undertook.

“This is your chance to prove yourself.”

The venue’s licence will be reviewed in full by the council at a hearing in January.

The bar, which opened in the village’s High Street in 2017, had its licence suspended for a month following a hearing in July last year for allowing three late-night lock-ins.

Mr Camara was also removed as the bar’s supervisor after allowing drinks to be served to a packed bar on consecutive weekends in February and again in March – despite a warning from the council – but he was allowed to remain as the venue’s licence holder.

The council’s licensing committee did approve his plans to open a first-floor bar but restricted its use until 11pm.

Despite rejecting the longer opening hours, the curfew for children was extended from 6pm to 9pm but the council rejected Mr Camara’s plans to change his licence so late-night door staff were not compulsory at weekends.

Police objections

West Midlands Police had objected to the application saying it did not support plans to remove door staff on weekend evenings in favour of ‘risk-assessed’ appointments.

The council insisted door staff must be in place from 10pm until close on Friday and Saturday evenings.

Asked about his plans for door staff, Mr Camara told the hearing: “Sometimes there are only two people [inside the bar] and what’s the point in bringing [door staff] in when I’m already struggling?”

Licensing chair Cllr Zee Russell replied: “I understand you want to save money but a person’s life and the licensing objectives have to come first unfortunately.”

Mr Camara told councillors he had experienced a “tough time” after the Covid-19 pandemic and pleaded to extend the opening hours to “keep a hold of his business.”

“I’m struggling to pay my bills,” he told the hearing. “People think that because I’m an ex-footballer [I’ve got lots of money]. I have to pay my staff, council tax is going up, business rates are going up and I’m struggling to keep a hold of my business.”

“I’m just asking for an extra half an hour. Everywhere else shuts at 12am and we’ll just get an extra 30 minutes to just help my business grow a bit.

“I make some mistakes sometimes but that’s life… I’m trying to make people happy.

“I’m not a bad person,” he later said. “I’m no gangster.”

Mr Camara said any Tettenhall residents who had complaints or issues with his wine bar could speak with him face-to-face and he would try to find a solution.

He later added that it seemed “99% of people were happy [with his bar] and just one person was complaining.”

“I feel like I’m being treated like a criminal,” he said.

Robin Hacking, chair of Tettenhall Community Forum, said there were other late-night venues in the village that were run without the same issues as Chill Wine Bar.

“The community is wanting arrangements to be made so that the same applies to any activities that take place at this particular venue and they feel that the existing licensing conditions are not being met and therefore it would be unwise at this stage to extend them further.”

Mr Hacking asked how Mr Camara was going to combat the “re-occurring problem of late-night noise.”

“People don’t mind if they are coming out of your venue late, as long as they behave themselves,” Mr Hacking said.

Ahead of the hearing, a Tettenhall neighbour said in an objection that there had been a “history of disregard for local residents from people visiting the bar.”

“We don’t blame the owner but loud music, trouble, inconsiderate parking, shouting, swearing already goes on so extending the operating hours will make matters worse for local residents,” the objection read.

“We live on the other end of the high street and already put up with the issues. It’s also worth noting we have a lot of elderly residents in the village. Whilst we are happy to have a bar in the village, we need to be considerate to all local residents.”

'Established and knowledgeable supervisor'

A licensing hearing in 2024 heard how many revellers in Tettenhall would finish their nights at Mr Camara’s bar after leaving nearby pubs at midnight.

The wine bar then agreed to cut its closing time by half an hour to match nearby pubs to prevent it from drawing crowds looking to grab a ‘quick’ drink.

Lisa Richardson-Lewty, who represented Mr Camara at the hearing in 2024, said the former footballer had made “poor management decisions” and the wine bar was now employing an “established and knowledgeable” supervisor that was a “considered choice and not just a name on a piece of paper.”

The council’s licensing manager Greg Bickerdike dismissed claims that only ‘soft’ drinks had been served after hours as “fanciful at best” and criticised Mr Camara for staying open when he should not have – and again after a warning.

“If he is not capable of understanding ‘don’t open past these hours’ then I don’t know what hope we have for the rest of the conditions being implemented correctly,” he told the hearing.

Mr Camara had earlier been warned by the council and given 14 days to provide the CCTV footage of the alleged lock-ins – recordings the council said were “incomplete” when handed over.

Another complaint that the venue was open after hours again on March 18, despite the warning, was later confirmed by CCTV.

Mo Camara played 45 times for Wolves in the early 2000s in a spell that saw the Guinea international become a cult hero at Molineux.

He also made appearances for Celtic, Burnley and Derby.