A city centre nightclub where a 14-year-old boy is alleged to have raped a woman just days after another serious attack was reported has been shut down.
Bloom, in Manchester’s Gay Village, has had its licence revoked after a town hall committee heard ‘shocking’ evidence from GMP including details of 38 violent or sexual offences at the venue this year.
The club’s licence was suspended at the beginning of the month, when police ordered a summary review following the alleged rape in the venue’s toilets on June 29.
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The suspension was upheld at a further hearing on July 20, with councillors noting CCTV footage suggested a ‘level of familiarity’ between the teenager and staff at the Bloom Street venue.
Since then it has come to light that a non-binary person had also allegedly been raped in the toilets just 12 days prior, while there has been a catalogue of violence, threats and ‘sexual-type crimes’ since August 2021.
Parent company Lapwine, which holds the licence, told the hearing it had overhauled security and ramped up management supervision in response to recent incidents.
But the licensing panel said it had no confidence parent company Lapwine Ltd would be able to manage the premises in a way that would prevent crime and disorder and ensure public safety.
Barbara Gora, legal adviser to the three-strong panel, said the councillors had ‘looked carefully at the numerous incidents’ at the club over the last year - some of which were relatively minor and included some crimes against door staff.
But she added: “That did leave a number of very serious incidents which occurred at the premises in the last year at which customers suffered physical injuries or sexual assaults as a result of attending at the premises.”
Lapwine’s pleas for leniency included that it had changed the firm that provides its door staff - but Ms Gora told the meeting that some of the most recent incidents had taken place since this happened.
The panel was particularly concerned, she said, by allegations a member of security staff had ‘kicked and punched’ a customer on June 22 and reports of a rape in the male toilets on June 17.
"The committee considered that nothing was done following those two serious incidents" - said Ms Gora, and this led to the alleged rape on June 29, which triggered the review of the premises licence.
“The committee would expect a responsible operator to have taken some action earlier when seeing reports of these serious incidents.”
Ms Gora said the panel had also noted that the same door company and designated premises supervisor (DPS) - responsible for the day-to-day running of the club - had remained in post following the incident on June 29.
“The committee considers there has clearly been a history of incidents at the premises,” she said.
Despite Lapwine’s plan to appoint a new general manager and for senior managers to attend on a weekly basis, the committee had ‘no confidence’ this would lead to more effective management of the premises,”
The failings at the premises on June 29, she added, could be seen on CCTV and it was ‘clear to the committee’ that the teenage boy was known to the door staff and no other staff at the premises took any action to address ‘a clear breach of condition’.
The committee’s decision was in line with the recommendations from GMP and the council’s own licensing department - both of whom noted that the majority of trouble was caused after 4am by people arriving already intoxicated.
Margaret Lewis, of the council’s licensing and out-of-hours team, said: “They have not really done anything to address those types of issues. All the things they have offered is to do with another layer of management and not actually any steps to uphold the licensing objectives.”
PC Alan Isherwood agreed that what had been offered was not ‘sufficient’.
“Because of the unfortunate levels of intoxication of the clientele that go there, and because of the serious incidents that have occurred we believe the appropriate and necessary step would be to revoke the premises licence.”
Gerald Gouriet QC, representing Lapwine, admitted the events of June 29 had been a ‘catastrophic failure and a dereliction of duty’ on behalf of Bloom.
But he pleaded for the venue to be given another chance, urging the panel to have trust and confidence in Lapwine and the new management and security arrangements it was proposing.
“That draconian final step need not be taken today and should only be taken today if you feel it is necessary - I suggest it isn’t.” he added.
However, the panel was not convinced, and also decided the suspension must stay in place - meaning Bloom cannot reopen during the 21-day period it has to appeal.
Manchester City Council’s licensing sub-committee panel met at the Town Hall Extension on Monday (July 25)
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