A Canary Wharf cocktail bar which served underage girls despite one of them vomiting on the floor has clung onto its licence.
Police had originally called for the Cocktail Club in Cabot Square to lose its licence over the December incident in which a group including two teenage girls were served for six hours.
But in a decision published Thursday, Tower Hamlets councillors decided the bar could keep its licence after hearing of a raft of changes it had made.
Councillors had heard how the group later went on to a bar in Shoreditch and one of the teens reported being spiked, leading to her hospitalisation.
An investigation was then launched into what occurred earlier in the night at the Cocktail Club, with a Met Police officer saying there was “very concerning” CCTV of the girls being sexually harassed.
Officers had also raised concerns about the girls not being asked for ID and the apparent presence of other minors at the bar.
The Cocktail Club’s managing director Dawn Donohoe said she was “shocked and disappointed” by the incident and pledged changes to avoid “any repeat”.
The chain runs 17 venues, predominantly in London.
Ahead of the hearing on April 11, police and the bar’s management came to an agreement on a string of conditions it would implement in a bid to keep its licence.
This was then endorsed by councillors, which said they included changes to the bar’s management and security.
“It is also clear that the various changes in operation since the incident also demonstrated that the likelihood of future under-age sales and other problems was minimised,” said councillors.
“The compliance visits showed that patrons were asked for identification before entry. Equally importantly, bar staff were also asking for ID before sale rather than relying on the door staff, which supplemented the checks done at the door.”
The bar must also undergo audits to check they are following the rules in October 2023, April 2024, October 2024, and April 2025.
A Cocktail Club spokesperson said: “Incidents like this are taken extremely seriously and we have worked closely with the Met police over the last few months to make sure that we have done everything possible to ensure that this will not happen again.”
