West Bromwich pub told it can re-open after licence was suspended over failure to call 999 after stabbing

The Railway Inn in Harwood Street, West Bromwich, can reopen after the suspension of its late-night licence was lifted by Sandwell Council after a review hearing on Tuesday (October 14).

The venue’s licence was suspended on September 18 at the request of West Midlands Police in a behind-closed-doors meeting over concerns that staff failed to notify the emergency services over a stabbing involving some of its patrons earlier that month.

The region’s police force said it had reached an agreement with the pub’s owners ahead of the council hearing, which could allow the pub to reopen if it received the blessing of councillors.

A number of conditions were added to the licence which included banning alcohol from being taken outside after 9pm.

The pub would also have to install noise monitors and limit music to a volume agreed with the council.

Outdoor speakers would also be banned and doors and windows would have to remain closed as much as possible.

Sandwell Council’s environmental health team also supported the review of the pub’s licence, saying it had received 26 complaints about the venue in the last five years, including five this year.

The complaints said the venue was frequently home to events which saw reggae DJs performing on a makeshift stage with cars and motorbikes racing in the street and blocking roads and pavements, as well as frequent arguments, fighting and littering.

Neighbours said they were unable to sit in their gardens and were forced to stay indoors because of "very loud music and [the] strong smell of cannabis".

The complaints said residents were forced to shut all of their windows during hot weather in the summer and “couldn’t hear themselves think” because of the loud music coming from “speakers the size of wardrobes".

The pub was told it needed to improve how it managed crowds leaving the pub at closing time, and its owner, Donna Marie Shields, admitted more and better-trained door staff would be needed.

“It clearly wasn’t dispersed as well as it should have been,” she said.

The owner’s legal representative said there was “no basis” to restrict noise in the pub and that the monitoring device was “expensive and unnecessary". He denied that noise from the venue was at an "unacceptable" level and the owners said the pub had been sound-proofed in 2019.

He added that the events of last month had been a “stressful situation and lessons had been learned".

West Midlands Police said it did not want to "unnecessarily put the owners out of business".

Footage of an argument outside the pub from 2021 filmed by a neighbour was shown by environmental health representatives at the meeting, which Councillor Jag Singh said was “pretty poor” evidence.

“Is that all you’ve got to show us?” the confused councillor asked.

'Element of naivety'

CCTV of the stabbing was shown to the committee in private by West Midlands Police but other footage presented in public did show large crowds and several cars outside the venue in the hour leading up to the incident.

West Midlands Police said officers were contacted by staff at Midland Metropolitan University Hospital at 5.15am on September 13 who had treated a man who had been stabbed outside the venue earlier that morning.

He had admitted himself to the Smethwick hospital telling staff he had been attacked outside the Railway Inn following an argument.

The minutes from the private interim hearing last month said there was an “element of naivety” from licence holder Donna Marie Shields as she was “unaware of her responsibility in terms of security staff, staff and dispersal of patrons” and “[did] not fully understand her terms and conditions of [the] licence".

The owners were unaware of the stabbing at the venue in the early hours and only found out when police turned up at their doorstep later that morning.

The pub’s licence was originally granted in 2008 and it is allowed to open from 8am to 3.30am every day.

The licence holder had argued that the closure of the business would “harm the local community who deserve to drink and relax in peace".

Of the incident in the early hours of September 13, the force said CCTV had shown there was “little or no action” from staff or bouncers to disperse crowds or call 999.

“The victim and offender were patrons of the venue,” the force said. “Footage from the CCTV of the venue shows no measures in place to actively disperse customers from the immediate vicinity of the premises and little or no action from door staff of the venue.

“Customers can be seen with drinks in hand outside the premises.”

The force added it was “mindful that the venue has a very late licence in what is a residential street” and it had received reports from residents “raising concerns about events at the premises and the behaviour of patrons in the street during trading and at closing time".