Bar and restaurant in West Bromwich could lose licence over owners' ‘poor’ reaction to stabbing in toilet
A bar and restaurant could be permanently stripped of its licence after the owners were accused of responding ‘poorly’ to an alleged attempted murder.
The Royal Castle Bar and Restaurant in Sams Lane, West Bromwich, will have its licence reviewed by Sandwell Council following an attempted murder at the venue on July 20.
An interim hearing was held in private on July 23, at which the venue’s licence was temporarily suspended until a later hearing.
At the interim hearing, West Midlands Police said CCTV had shown customers at the restaurant involved in “serious disorder” on July 20 who left and then returned to the venue “a number of times” to “continue and escalate” the disorder.
The stabbing was then alleged to have taken place in the disabled toilet.
Daljit Bhadher, 46, of Magdala Street, Birmingham, was charged with attempted murder and possession of a knife following the alleged stabbing.
Bhadher appeared before Wolverhampton Magistrates’ Court on Monday, July 21.
Police said the man in his 40s was taken to hospital with injuries which were “thankfully not life-threatening". The West Midlands Ambulance Service said the injuries were “potentially serious” in a separate statement.
The local authority’s licensing committee meets on August 18 to make a decision.
The minutes of the interim hearing, held in private on July 23, said the restaurant owner was unaware that any changes to the layout and structure of the building required him to apply to vary his licence.
The interim hearing also heard how the owner Nar Bahadur Sahani had not kept records of training or refusal logs, offered staff training but it did not include conflict or resolution management, and he “took no issue” with a potential fault with CCTV cameras.
Police also said it was “noted” that Mr Sahani “took no visible action to de-escalate the incident". At least eight members of staff were working during the incident, the committee said, yet nobody contacted police.
Ian Fellows, representing Mr Sahani at the interim hearing, told councillors that despite the alleged stabbing, police had responded with a "knee-jerk reaction" and closing the restaurant was an “overreaction".
He said Mr Sahani was a young father who had never experienced such disorder and it was the first he had to deal with a fight at the restaurant.
The committee decided the alleged incident on July 20 was because of “poor management” and suspended the licence.
