{"id":27097,"date":"2018-08-08T10:39:25","date_gmt":"2018-08-08T09:39:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/?p=27097"},"modified":"2018-08-08T10:39:25","modified_gmt":"2018-08-08T09:39:25","slug":"chinatown-upmarket-nightspot-is-blocked-over-city-centre-disorder-doubts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/2018\/08\/08\/chinatown-upmarket-nightspot-is-blocked-over-city-centre-disorder-doubts\/","title":{"rendered":"Chinatown ‘upmarket’ nightspot is blocked over city centre disorder doubts"},"content":{"rendered":"

A bid to open a new ‘upmarket’ nightspot in Chinatown has been blocked by the city council resulting in concerns from <\/strong>police which already struggle to maintain command in the area. A licensing officer also criticised the proposed menu arguing that JD Wetherspoon provided a more extensive offer.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The main issue centred around whether the new venue on Wrottesley Street, Birmingham would have been more of a restaurant or a nightclub.<\/p>\n

The applicants had stated Santra would have been a ‘hybrid’ between the two providing seating for more than 100 people with a waiting service, while there would also have been a dance floor with an in-house DJ. But West Midlands Police disagreed.<\/p>\n

Licensing officer PC Abdool Rohomon said: “I know the layout. It’s a nightclub, it was designed as a nightclub, it’s a nightclub. That’s why we are concerned.”<\/p>\n

The Chinese Quarter of the city centre falls under a Cumulative Impact Zone policy specified by the council which puts a burden on new licence applicants to demonstrate how their venue will not add to standing problems with crime and disorder.<\/p>\n

PC Rohomon argued a restaurant would have been far less likely to lead to trouble while a nightclub would fuel disorder in the area.<\/p>\n

He took issue with the fact only 50 percent of seating had been provided for the 250-capacity venue – when the force had wanted 70 percent.<\/p>\n

He also criticised the menu stating it was not ‘substantial’ enough to attract people.<\/p>\n

PC Rohomon said: “We police this part of the city with the limited resources we have.<\/p>\n

“It is a continual strain to police perhaps more so than other parts of the city.<\/p>\n

“We have had significant issues down there.<\/p>\n

“The only way we believe this could work is as a food-led business with alcohol, not an alcohol-led business with food.<\/p>\n

“There is a distinct difference.”<\/p>\n

He added: “Have you (the committee) got a food-led application? I am not satisfied you have. I think you have an entertainment-led application with a degree of food in.”<\/p>\n

Barrister Duncan Craig, representing Mr Murphy, said: “This is not a restaurant, unlike a restaurant people will have capacity to dance.<\/p>\n

“This is not a unique proposition by any stretch of the imagination. It is quite common in London.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A bid to open a new ‘upmarket’ nightspot in Chinatown has been blocked by the city council resulting in concerns from police which already struggle to maintain command in the area. A licensing officer also criticised the proposed menu arguing that JD Wetherspoon provided a more extensive offer. The main issue centred around whether the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1225,"featured_media":27098,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[53,37,3,112],"tags":[264,772,1385,1386,1356],"class_list":["post-27097","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-latest","category-local-news","category-news","category-top-stories","tag-birmingham","tag-birmingham-city-council","tag-chinatown","tag-pc-rohomon","tag-west-midlands-police"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27097","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1225"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27097"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27097\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27098"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27097"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27097"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27097"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}