A pub deemed to be the most dangerous in Britain is set to open its doors again after previously being shut down by council chiefs.
Seven Bar in Wednesbury, West Midlands, was reportedly often the scene of violence, with alleged stabbings, brawls and hospitalisations a regular occurrence. The year prior to the establishment being shut down had seen 26 serious crime instances and the local police are concerned it is being opened up once more, reports the Daily Star.
Previous incidents included a 22-year-old being stabbed in the back, in May, while another patron was left with a broken nose and fractured eye socket after having two bottles thrown at them. The stabbing victim suffered significant blood loss and needed an operation to stop the bleeding.
Police have voiced their worries over the bar – formerly known as The Turks Head – welcoming customers again. At the time of the stabbing incident, police said that management knew “the risks of its customer base yet chooses to ignore this”.
Seven incidents had been recorded this year, including a brawl outside the bar and another, separate incident that saw patrons fighting on the inside of the bar. Even Christmas Day wasn’t safe from a flurry of fighting, with one patron telling police that it wasn’t anything out of the ordinary as there “is a fight in there every week”.
Christmas Eve was no better, with one incident seeing a woman punched in the face by a man, while another, separate incident saw a man detained on suspicion of common assault after a fight. Another incident allegedly saw the pub continue to serve drinks while a stabbed man was slumped over the bar bleeding, and another where a man was later jailed after ploughing his car into people outside.
Councillor Peter Hughes, who represents Wednesbury North, does not want to see the pub back open again, saying: "I stand side-by-side with the police and their view on the situation – I'm totally against it reopening. I think all the other councillors for Wednesbury are too and even if it's not our ward, this impacts on the night-time economy of the town.
"We don't want Wednesbury to be marred by this type of activity. We all know licensed activity will lead to disorder issues, we would be stupid to think it wouldn't, but it's how it's managed including how it impacts neighbours.
"I've been going on for over two years about the problems at The Seven Bar and how it was affecting residents and the absolutely excessive extent of the type of issues that were occurring. It's not in my ward, but the extent of this was massive."
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