Wolverhampton club’s licence suspended over defective CCTV
A club’s licence has been suspended after opening without door staff and failing to replace an ageing CCTV system.
Wolverhampton Council’s licensing committee ruled that Beet’s Lounge in Pipers Row, Wolverhampton, would have its licence suspended for three months over the breaches.
Licensing chair Cllr Zee Russell said the suspension was to allow club owner Emmanuel Ndecha Obase Etukeni to “get his house in order.”
She said the committee could have revoked the licence but wanted to give the club owner another chance.
However, the club would be stripped of its licence if Mr Etukeni appeared before councillors again.
“This is your final opportunity,” warned the council’s solicitor Ronald Sempebwa at the hearing on August 13.
West Midlands Police had called for the review over repeated failures to replace an outdated and inadequate CCTV system and for twice visiting the Pipers Row club to find no door staff working.
Mr Etukeni said his sloppiness had “cost him a lot” but he had addressed the list of concerns and would not re-open until everybody was satisfied.
“My whole life is embedded in the building,” he told councillors. “We’ve not had a single incident since opening.
“Just give us time please.”
In a report published ahead of the hearing, West Midlands Police said there were no door staff present at the club when it was visited by officer during a late-night patrol of the city centre in January which was a breach of the venue’s licence.
Beet’s Lounge was visited again in March and again there was no security at the club’s entrance.
West Midlands Police said the club was using an outdated CCTV system that was only in use during opening hours and required a CD to be inserted manually to record footage.
Only three camera feeds were visible on the CCTV monitor with the rest “non-functional” according to the licensing review application.
The force said the club’s licence holder Emmanuel Ndecha Obase Etukeni was also unable to use the CCTV system when asked and officers found several unlabelled discs after requesting specific footage.
The club was formerly known as Manhattan’s and Chicago’s before opening as Beet’s Lounge in 2024.
Mr Etukeni was told he had 28 days to fix the issues raised by police including missing and blank staff logs and incident reports as well as the ongoing CCTV problems and lack of door staff.
A request for CCTV footage was made by West Midlands Police in May which ‘remains outstanding’ and several attempts for follow-up visits were either ignored or cancelled by the club owner.
A scheduled visit in June was also missed by the club owner according to the report.
In early June, the council was told the club’s supervisor had withdrawn consent meaning alcohol sales were no longer permitted. CCTV footage was again requested for the June weekend which showed the club empty.
But police said Mr Etukeni later admitted on a phone call that alcohol had been served believing a licence application had been made in time – an application that was later refused as incomplete.
Another visit later that June found the CCTV system still had issues with only a week’s worth of footage recorded when requested rather than the month required.
During the last visit on June 17, police told the licence holder that the venue must not open to the public until the CCTV was fixed.
Wolverhampton Council’s public health team said the issues had “significantly undermine[d] the licensing objectives and present[ed] a risk to public health and community safety.
“The lack of basic compliance measures, such as staff training, record keeping, and functional CCTV, is particularly concerning in a night-time economy setting.”
