A Derbyshire bar could be stripped of its licence and forced to close down after police were called to more than 40 violent attacks, thefts and spiking incidents in the past year.
The Crib Bar in Church Street, Ripley, is set to have its second licence review in the past four years after what police dub an “unacceptable” string of criminal incidents linked to the venue.
Amber Valley Borough Council will host a licence review later this year after a request from the police, who ask that the authority strip the venue of its licence to operate – effectively closing the bar down.
Police say that due to the violent incidents often involving weapons and glass bottles “it is only a matter of time before a fatality may be attributed to the venue”.
A detailed report filed by police says that 47 police incidents linked to The Crib have been recorded between October 31, 2021, and December 14, 2022, resulting in 42 formal police crime reports.
These include violent attacks between drunken customers, assaults from staff on customers and assaults on police officers and taxi drivers.
Police show that other late-night venues in the vicinity of the bar have not experienced the same high level of crime – totalling 11 incidents and nine crimes between The Association and The Old Cock Inn over the same 14 months.
A review hearing will be carried out by the borough council in the next few weeks, with a date to be set within 20 working days after January 12.
As documented in the report, this new review comes four years after the police previously requested that the bar lose its licence.
The 2019 review had followed an incident in which a member of door security staff at the venue assaulted a 21-year-old man, leaving him unconscious and bleeding from the mouth.
The victim was left in critical condition, in a medically-induced coma with potentially life-threatening brain injuries.
This led to the council temporarily suspending the venue’s licence at the police’s request.
However, the council did not approve the police’s request to strip the bar of its licence, following a full hearing, choosing instead to adopt a set of mandatory conditions in a bid to secure safety and protect against crime and disorder.
Police say these conditions have not been followed, citing several incidents in which footage from body-worn cameras on door security staff has not been provided.
In a review request to the borough council, PC Ady Clarke wrote on behalf of the police’s licensing team: “Over the last 12 months there has been an unacceptable volume of calls to police resulting in numerous reports of crimes including serious assaults, spikings, criminal damage, public order and thefts.
“This creates numerous hours of work for the already stretched police resources. Most of these incidents occur between the hours of midnight and 5am when The Crib bar is one of the few venues open.
“Not only are incidents reported inside The Crib, but this has also affected the wider community, with numerous fights reported outside on the street indicating customers were from The Crib.
“We cannot prove that some of the offences can solely be attributed to The Crib, however, there are clearly issues in the early hours when The Crib is open.”
The police also raised issues with the club’s persistent advertisement of “free” drinks, which was actually a policy of providing five drinks for £5. In the past week, the club has advertised 90p drinks on its Facebook page.
Police say the “irresponsible” promotion of a “free bar” has led to “mass disorder” of intoxicated customers.
The report also states that the venue continues to employ an individual named Adam Wadsworth as a glass collector. However, Derbyshire police say in their report that the staff member in question has repeatedly been seen carrying out unlicensed door security duties.
The report says that the employee has also been seen assaulting customers and that he is listed as ‘wanted’ on the Police National Computer.
The Crib Bar was approached for comment, with a spokesperson saying: “We can confirm that Derbyshire police have submitted an application seeking revocation of the Crib’s licence under Section 51 of Licensing Act 2003.
“The designated premises supervisor, Mr Robert Askew, will be appointing legal representation to defend this action and has no further comment to make at this time.”
Below are the criminal incidents recorded by the police, attributed to The Crib Bar, between October 31, 2021, and December 14, 2022, with some incidents generating several police crime reports:
October 31, 2021 – Serious assault involving one man stabbing another man three times in the abdomen after getting into an argument.
October 31, 2021 – Assault involving a woman pulling a clump of hair out of another woman’s head.
October 31, 2021 – Serious assault involving a woman throwing a bottle and a glass at another woman, leaving her with a very deep wound to her thigh, which court reports show required 12 stitches. Two parties were said to be taking place at the venue at the same time, a Halloween fancy-dress event and a vigil for a large group of mourners.
October 31, 2021 – Man arrested after causing criminal damage to a police car by smashing the wing mirror after the police had issued a dispersal order for the crowd outside The Crib.
October 31, 2021 – Assault involving a woman attacking another woman in the street outside The Crib. The woman dragged the victim outside the bar and punched her in the face, causing a small cut on her lip.
October 31, 2021 – PC Adrian Portianow is assaulted by a man while he was helping to disperse the crowd outside The Crib. A second man punched PC Portianow twice in the head while he was trying to restrain the first male, who had also smashed the wing mirror of a police van. PC Portianow was left with a mild concussion and the man was arrested. PC Portianow reports 50/60 people having gathered outside the venue and calling police “murderers”, “rats” and “pigs”.
December 18, 2021 – Female victim confirmed to have been spiked after going for a drink in The Crib and feeling unwell the next morning. Spiking confirmed following a police forensic analysis of a urine test.
December 19, 2021 – Assault involving a female kicking a male taxi driver in the back.
January 29, 2022 – Incident of affray involving two men punching each other repeatedly in the street outside The Crib.
January 30, 2022 – Assault involving a woman spitting in a man’s face and punching him, while in The Crib, before following him out of the bar and punching him in the face again on the street near the bar entrance.
March 12, 2022 – Assault involving a male customer who had been in The Crib bar leaving the venue and being attacked by a number of people, with the victim being hit to the head and face, leaving him with a split lip and gums and soft tissue swelling to his cheeks.
March 13, 2022 – Victim reports their phone being stolen while in The Crib.
March 13, 2022 – Female victim reports her phone being stolen while in The Crib.
March 13, 2022 – Assault involving a victim being headbutted, leaving them with a broken nose.
May 15, 2022 – Assault involving a man being verbally abused and threatened with harm if he does not leave, he is then grabbed by the front of his shirt, pushed and punched on the arm.
May 22, 2022 – Assault involving a man punching a member of door security staff in the face.
June 11, 2022 – Assault and theft involving a woman being attacked by a man and a woman in The Crib and being dragged to the floor, causing a cut to her head, with her belongings also being stolen.
June 18, 2022 – Victim reports that they stepped out of The Crib and were assaulted by being punched three times in the head, leaving them with a black eye and lumps on their forehead.
June 18, 2022 – Assault involving a man hitting the victim in the head with a glass bottle and then punching a second person in the face and pushing them through a fence panel in an outdoor shelter area. First victim left with a huge lump on their head and the second with a black eye.
June 18, 2022 – Assault involving a man being punched by another man while sitting down inside the venue, leaving him with a cut above one of his eyebrows.
July 9, 2022 – Assault involving a male and female couple finding two men fighting and trying to intervene. One of the fighting males turns on the couple and pushes the woman causing pain, discomfort and the loss of her cosmetic nails, while the man is hit in the face causing a bloodshot eye and bruising.
August 13, 2022 – Assault involving a man getting into an argument while leaving The Crib and subsequently being punched in the face knocking him to the floor, leaving him with a bruised lip, swollen eye and a sore nose.
August 20, 2022 – A Crib Bar staff member (named earlier as glass collector Adam Wadsworth) becomes verbally aggressive towards a male customer before assaulting the victim, kicking him in the torso and punching him to the side of his head, causing him to fall to the ground.
August 21, 2022 – Incident of affray involving multiple unknown offenders fighting with the venue’s door security staff.
August 21, 2022 – A member of door security staff at the venue reports denying entry to a female customer he suspected was underage. The staff member is then assaulted by being punched in the back of the head and knocked to the floor, where he was then kicked by several men who also stamped on his head. He suffered a chipped tooth, a cut and swollen lip and lumps and grazes on his head. A female customer also stole his phone in the assault.
September 4, 2022 – Crib Bar employee Adam Wadsworth was reported to have intervened in a violent incident and subsequently attacked a customer before he was restrained by a second staff member.
September 4, 2022 – Assault involving a woman hitting a man in the face with a glass beer bottle in the venue’s smoking area, causing a cut cheek and a black eye.
September 4, 2022 – Serious assault involving a man attacking two other men with a sharp weapon of some sort, believed to be a form of knuckleduster. The first victim was left with a two to three-inch slash wound across his chin and a one-inch wound on the right side of his neck, requiring stitches. The second victim was left with a two-inch slash wound across the right side of his face in front of his ear. Police obtained and executed a warrant to seize the hard drive for the CCTV at the venue. Police reports detail that a man drove a black 4×4 Jeep Cherokee at speed past the bar and appeared to be deliberately driving towards people on the road and pavement in a hit-and-run attempt.
September 25, 2022 – Ambulance called after victim reports their drink has been spiked at the venue, leaving them feeling unwell.
October 1, 2022 – Criminal damage involving a woman pulling over a sound system causing it to smash on the floor. The woman later agreed to pay £300 for repairs through restorative justice agreed with the venue.
October 2, 2022 – Incident of affray involving around 20 people fighting for roughly 10 minutes in The Crib’s rear beer garden.
October 2, 2022 – Affray involving two police officers trying to speak to a drunken male customer and becoming hostile towards officers. The male customer then punched a second man and ran off before being chased, caught and arrested.
October 2, 2022 – Assault involving a man headbutting PC Matthew Winterton in the face. He details in a witness statement that “total chaos” had erupted outside the venue with door staff not providing assistance “in any way” and appearing to have emptied all customers at the same time, all in a “heavily intoxicated state following a free drinks promotion”.
October 2, 2022 – Police tell a man to leave the area following an incident of public disorder, who continues to shout, swear and make threats towards officers – before being arrested.
October 2, 2022 – A woman is arrested after shouting abuse at police officers including the phrase “dirty horrible b*******”, before throwing her handbag at the side of a police van.
October 2, 2022 – A mass brawl breaks out outside the venue, during which a woman was assaulted by a man causing scratches to her back, bruised lips and bruised feet.
October 7, 2022 – Report of a fight in the venue’s beer garden, with staff asking for police assistance.
October 7, 2022 – Council CCTV footage shows violence spilling out onto the street outside of The Crib, continuing in the road and on the pavement.
The police documents submitted as part of the review detail that a man received a 12-month prison sentence for the October 31, 2021, incident in which a man was stabbed three times.
East Midlands Ambulance Service has also logged 42 calls to the postcode in which The Crib is located in the past year, with 15 directly attributed to the venue.
This includes the October 31, 2021, stabbing incident; a victim having too many drinks on December 19, 2021, and not maintaining consciousness; a February 26, 2022, incident involving a victim being assaulted and suffering head injuries; a June 11, 2022, incident involving a customer falling and hitting their head on the kerb; a September 3, 2022, incident involving a customer falling down the stairs; a September 3, 2022, incident in which a customer was passed out on the floor of the venue; a September 25, 2022, incident involving a customer being found passed out in the toilets; and a September 25, 2022, incident in which a customer was found unconscious.
A police report from October 8, 2022, details a licensing compliance visit carried out by Police Sergeant Adam Harrison, who found that the designated premises supervisor, Mr Askew, had not read the venues licence since 2019; that authority-to-sell-alcohol records were out of date; the alcohol refusals log had no incidents for the past 12 months; and that the member of staff previously mentioned as a glass collector, Adam Wadsworth, appeared to be working as an unlicensed door supervisor.
