Owner says he was treated unfairly as Depost Bar on Bradshawgate Bolton loses licence

A BOLTON town centre bar has lost its licence due to repeated breaches of Covid regulations.

Bolton Council's licensing sub-committee ruled that The Depost Bar, on Bradshawgate had not been operating safely or effectively when police visited in the early hours of May 6 and found that there was no table service in operation, groups of more than six were present, no staff or customers were wearing face coverings and social distancing was not observed.

They say this contradiction of the Covid rules in force at the time and further visits on October 30 and November 20 found additional problems with fire safety, including a room with only one set of stairs to the premises with no fire exit present, but owner Polepole Kajabiki believes he was not treated fairly.

He said: "They took my licence for no reason and I feel like I've been treated unfairly by the police and the council."

He added: "It's a long story to be honest, the council took the police's side.

"The police brought their evidence, I brought my evidence, but the council didn't even consider it, they didn't do anything.

"I'm not happy with Bolton Council's licencing team and how they treated me."

But officers say they also found when visiting on October 30 that there was only one member of door staff on duty and no "Ask for Angela" poster, that aims to help people seek advice on sexual assaults, on display.

During the course of the licensing meeting, presided over by Cllrs Maureen Flitcroft, Mudasir Dean and David Grant, the councillors heard how the business had been put under huge strain due to the pandemic and as such could not afford enough door staff.

But the committee felt that in the interests of public safety, the venue's licence had to be revoked.

The council statement said: "The sub-committee was satisfied that revocation of the licence was an appropriate and proportionate action for the promotion of the crime and disorder, public safety and the prevention of public nuisance licensing objectives and there were no lesser steps that could be taken to ameliorate their concerns."