Licence suspension for Brixham bar

After reports of people allegedly brandishing knives

A Brixham bar has had its license temporarily suspended following police reports of people allegedly brandishing knives, taking and supplying drugs, staff threatening customers and a bar steward allegedly assaulting a drunk customer.

Police appealed to Torbay Council’s licensing sub-committee to review the licence of Jackz Bar, near Brixham harbour, asking it impose 18 new licensing criteria, including new CCTV, staff training and random drug searches of customers by door stewards.

A licensing sub-committee agreed to these conditions and went further, suspending the licence completely until January.  New noise restrictions are to be enforced and special restrictions placed on the owner, Ross Hennessy, who police say is not fit to operate the bar but is nonetheless believed to be overseeing its running. The council has now prohibited Mr Hennessy from entering the bar during opening hours and said he is not allowed to influence its operation.

The committee was told the bar is failing to meet fire safety obligations. CCTV seen by police has shown people being allowed to enter the pub past the 1 a.m. legal deadline for entry.

Holly Harley, who up until earlier this week was the bar’s license holder despite working an alternative job for 25 hours each week, responded with Mr Hennessy in defence, saying that one of the doors the police mentioned was locked most of the time. This defence didn’t get them very far as, if true, it meant the bar breached fire regulations for not having enough fire exits.

The police also said that CCTV evidence shows bar staff not use face coverings at a time when it was a legal obligation and that its covid marshall had not been doing their job properly. 

Police say that before Mr Hennessey and Miss Harley took over Jackz, crime levels at the bar were at an “acceptable” level, with around three to four recorded every year. In contrast, three crimes have been recorded in the space of the four months since the pair took over.

At the licensing meeting, a planning officer said it was very unlikely that the bar, located in a built-up area away from the main high street, would be given a licence if applied for today. They stated there were far fewer restrictions in 2007 when Jackz first got its licence, adding: “What we have here is not fit for purpose. It shouldn’t be a nightclub. It would struggle to get through the threshold these days.” 

Attending the licensing review was Ms Stephanie Trust, who works at Jackz and who, a day before the meeting, had been promoted to hold the bar’s license.  Miss Harley, who was formally in charge of the bar throughout the police’s investigations, gave her position to Ms Trust 24 hours before the meeting. 

Police suspect that Miss Harley, whose connection with Mr Hennessey is unclear, had been a front for the owner, Mr Hennessy, to run the bar behind the scenes. The committee questioned whether Ms Trust, drafted in at the last moment, was up to the job of running the bar unhindered by Mr Hennessy. Ms Trust’s experience of bar management consists of working at Jackz on and off for 15 years and holding positions as a general manager at a Lidl supermarket and at a holiday park.

In a statement read out at the meeting, and written with the help of Mr Hennessy, Ms Trust denied many of the police’s allegations, saying she had never seen a knife in the bar at any point, that the bar has a zero-tolerance policy for drugs and that the member of staff accused of assaulting a customer was acting in self-defence and no longer works as a doorman at the club. She also said that the alleged victim was guilty of making “big fat false claims.”

Ms Trust can appeal the council’s decision at a magistrates court. If an appeal is made, Torbay Council’s decision on the license will not be enforced until the appeal is settled.