The owners of a County Durham bar claim they are the victims of a “malicious hoax” following an alleged assault.
Staff at CroBar in Barnard Castle were ordered to extend CCTV coverage of the venue following the alleged incident in the early hours of September 13.
A customer, who was ejected from the Horse Market venue, was taken to hospital with a suspected broken nose and eye socket after being “kicked in the face by a member of doorstaff”, a Durham County Council licensing committee was told.
The alleged incident occurred in an area of the premises not covered by CCTV, but staff disputed the victim’s claims.
Luke Sutton, CroBar licence holder, told the committee: “We believe we are the victims of a malicious hoax, and we are being framed by the alleged victim because he was unhappy at being ejected from our venue.”
The authority was ordered to review CroBar’s licence after Durham Constabulary raised concerns over the staff’s response to the alleged incident. A police investigation is ongoing.
CCTV coverage of the whole premises has been extensively upgraded since an interim hearing in September.
Sergeant Caroline Dickenson said: “Unfortunately, the incident isn’t captured, so there isn’t any CCTV which we can rely on.
“We have been asking the venue since July about the CCTV, and the steps taken at the interim hearing pushed them into getting CCTV done. It has been done to a high standard and all cameras are now covering the areas we wanted.”
CroBar staff hope to reposition the business as a tapas bar and have employed a new security company to work as door staff.
Mr Sutton added: “We have increased our recording of events. Any interaction that door staff have with the general public is now recorded in the incident book.”
Durham Constabulary also shared concerns over the venue’s late licence, but staff said it is a “key part” of the business and rarely stays open until 4am.
Mr Sutton added: “Key trading hours, for us, are between 12.30am and 2am – that’s when we make a lot of the cash we take in. It is very vital to us and the town.”
As part of the new licence, CroBar staff are required to immediately provide police with access to CCTV footage when requested.
Councillor Matt Burnard, licensing committee chair, said: “The relevant interim steps will remain on the licence.
“We will reduce the licensing hours to 2am, apart from bank holiday weekends, when it will be 4am. All other late-night events will require a temporary event notice.
“We hope this gives you the flexibility you need, given the representations you have made.”
Mr Sutton responded: “We respect the committee’s decision, but we feel we are being punished for a malicious claim against our business.”
