A Canary Wharf cocktail bar could lose its licence amid complaints about underage drinkers and the sexual harrasment of women.
The Met Police has asked Tower Hamlets Council to strip the Cocktail Club in Cabot Square of its licence after staff served a group, including the two teenage girls, for six hours - despite one of the teens vomiting on the floor.
In a submission to the council, Met PC Michael Rice said police had also uncovered “very concerning” CCTV of the girls being sexually harassed and said there was evidence of a “clear pattern” of harassment of women at the venue.
The December incident came to light after the group went to a Shoreditch bar later in the night and one of the teens reported being spiked, according to council papers, leading to her hospitalisation.
A hearing to decide on the bar’s future is due on April 11. The chain runs 17 venues, predominantly in London.
In a submission to the council, the Met Police said CCTV appeared to show a man making unwanted advances towards the group, “grabbing a female around the neck” and putting his arm around one of the teenagers.
“No members of staff pick up on this behaviour and so no action is taken to deal with this male or protect the women,” said PC Rice.
Officers said the bar’s incident log showed a pattern of female customers complaining of sexual harassment by men at the bar but staff did not contact police about them.
They said other customers in the bar on the night also appeared to be underage and that none were asked for ID.
“If a venue serves alcohol to 16 year old children, and does nothing about a clear pattern of harassment against women and girls then no amount of conditions are going to change the risk they pose,” said police.
The Cocktail Club’s managing director Dawn Donohoe said she was “shocked and disappointed” by the incident and said a wide number of changes had been made because of it.
“I have 2 daughters myself and am mortified the incident occurred in one of our premises. This incident is the first incident of this nature in our 17 venues,” she said.
“I am fully aware of and recognise the seriousness of this incident and do not want this to ever happen again.”
In a statement to the council, Ms Donohoe said the bar’s entire management had been changed, as had the security firm.
She said it had asked a firm to run spot-checks to make sure alcohol was not being sold to minors and that it had since passed all of them.
“With the actions taken I am now confident the entire team are committed to ensuring compliance with our premises licence and the licensing objectives and protecting vulnerable persons,” she said.
“There is no way we want to have any repeat of the incident but we have shown over the last 3 months that the premises are capable of, and have been run successfully with full focus on the licensing objectives.”
