A Newcastle bar has won the right to stay open later after promising to ban bar crawls.
Councillors have agreed to extend the licence of Pumphreys, in the Cloth Market, after city authorities had claimed that the venue’s reputation had been “tarnished”. Northumbria Police and the city council’s licensing authority had objected to the bar’s bid to open until 2am every day, after being left unimpressed by its involvement in the Loosecrawl freshers event in September.
Members of the council’s licensing sub-committee were told at a hearing last month that students were enjoying a “party like atmosphere” and leaving the bar unchallenged while carrying booze in plastic cups, in contrast to the venue’s claims to be a quieter, speakeasy-style location. The well-known boozer recently underwent a major renovation and reopened as Pumphreys Blues Cafe, in the hope of changing its image and attracting younger patrons.
