Crimes at nightclub double in two years
POLICE have said they will assess a Tonbridge nightclub's alcohol licence after it was revealed crimes have almost doubled there in two years.
The number of crimes reported at Source of Sound has increased from 24 in 2009 to 40 last year, the majority for violent and antisocial behaviour.
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LICENCE change? The Source of Sound nightclub AH1602104/1
Director of the venue, James Tovey, put the increase down to more incidents being reported.
He said: "We've been encouraged by police to call it in on the radio, so I can see where figures have escalated. Previously, we would have dealt with it in-house, now we call it in."
He added the incidents were mainly as a result of clubgoers having too much to drink and becoming aggressive when staff asked them to leave.
"People refused entry because they're on Pubwatch causes a flashpoint," he said.
The club attracts about 400 customers each weekend. Police patrols are increased after the club's closing times – 3am on Friday and 4am on Saturday.
Inspector Adrian Allen said police would look to see if any changes needed to be made to the venue's alcohol licence – action Mr Tovey stressed management would fully co-operate with.
"For us, we have to be a bit more vigilant stopping people being too drunk," he added.
3 Comments
by alicelander
Friday, March 23 2012, 9:01AM
“How about putting a couple of police on duty there - cheaper than sending out officers 108 times in the space of a fortnight as the Courier reports.
Doesn't the club have its own security, anyhow?”
by kendalcastle
Sunday, March 18 2012, 6:06PM
“I think there are two sides to this - yes the nightclub owners and their staff need to be responsible for policing what is fundamentally our broken society where a large percentage of the population judge a good night out, by how little of it they remember in the morning and who threw up the most. If this were it then I wouldn't really have a problem, how people choose to live their lives is a matter that is entirely up to them, however it doesn't stop there, the hospitals, police and the rest of society is forced to fund our nations problem with alcohol. So given that several generations are broken, and my hope is that we can fix this, but until then my view is that the penalties for being drunk need to be severally tightened, both for individuals and for those that serve it. Remembering that for bars and nightclubs, alcohol is what they sell and make money on, if they were fined for overselling (i.e when someone was drunk) then perhaps they would take a closer look at who they were selling to and or letting into their venues, I would has a guess that due to its drink prices, that many people arrive at Source of Sound already intoxicated, so my question is as much for every other pub/bar in Tonbridge.”
by schanoja
Friday, February 10 2012, 11:46PM
“stay open until 06h00,ply them with more drink so that they come out into the cold,fall over, bang head on ground= problem solved. one less fool.
so, there will be an inquest, probably cheaper in the long run.”