A pub manager lost her lease before she could even open her premises to guests after a lockdown drinking session with friends resulted in a fight which saw her stamp twice on a drunk taxi driver’s head, a council meeting heard.
Kirsty Jones took over The Wheatsheaf Hotel on East Prescot Road in January this year, but never opened its doors legally after having her lease terminated before the end of the UK’s winter lockdown.
The pub has kept its licence after the committee found that owners Punch Pubs had taken swift and decisive action to remedy problems posed by Ms Jones’ breach of Covid regulations and the terms of the licence.
However, a range of new conditions including enhanced CCTV have been added to the licence.
Sergeant Craig Carmichael of Merseyside Police described a chaotic scene at a review into the premises at Liverpool Council’s licensing and gambling sub-committee today.
After a tip off from a passerby who heard a window smash, officers arrived at the scene just before 2.30am on Friday, March 12, to find a private hire taxi leaving the pub.
The car stopped as officers arrived and when the driver got out officers said he was slurring his speech and had cuts on his hands, arms and mouth.
When questioned, he told officers only that “he’d been battered”.
Officers later saw another private hire driver near the premises and found Ms Jones and her husband inside the pub along with drinks glasses strewn across the bar.
Sergeant Carmichael told the committee Ms Jones and her husband had been drinking for six hours with two private hire taxi drivers, referred to only as Male A and Male B.
He said a fight had later broken out within the group of four, who were later seen on CCTV snorting white powder from a tray underneath the bar.
He said: “It appears Male A got into a fight with the husband of the DPS [Ms Jones]. She got involved and kicked and stamped on his head twice.”
Ms Jones is not set to face the assault charges initially filed by police as the taxi driver did not wish to proceed with prosecution.
The driver, who was not named today, was later tested and found to be twice the legal driving limit. He is on bail and set to go on trial in September for a drink driving offence.
The local authority which licensed him to operate as a taxi driver, not believed to be Liverpool Council, has also been informed of the incident.
Sergeant Carmichael said that when challenged about the lockdown breach, Ms Jones’ husband, also unidentified in the proceedings, told officers to “have a heart”.
He said: “When officers reminded them of the rules surrounding the lockdown, her husband said ‘you don’t have to bring that up, we’re near the end of it. Have a heart, we’re all mates’.”
Questioned by police officers in the proceeding days, Ms Jones initially denied that there had been drinking in the pub and said that it had been happening in the flat upstairs.
She only admitted to what had gone on when officers checked CCTV footage of the night which was taken from an angle which showed people’s feet under the bar.
Further footage found later also showed the four people in the bar snorting a white powder off a tray, though officers did not find drugs on the premises at the time of the search.
Ms Jones was informed three days after the incident, when Punch Pubs managers became aware of the incident, that her lease would be terminated.
Representing Punch Pubs, solicitor Piers Warne said the company had taken swift action to remedy the situation at The Wheatsheaf Hotel.
Mr Warne said the economic conditions for pubs had been extremely difficult during the pandemic but said the situation at the Wheatsheaf was completely unacceptable.
He said: “We will support tenants where they make a mistake during these difficult times.
“What we will not tolerate is illegal activity. It was made clear to tenants about the importance of these [Covid] regulations for public safety."
Merseyside Police commended Punch Pubs for reacting quickly and said the new licence terms he proposed were agreed by the pub.
Delivering the council sub-committee’s decision to allow The Wheatsheaf to keep its licence, councillor Christine Banks said: “There have acted swiftly and taken immediate steps to address the causes of the concerns.
“While members did consider all powers available to them, including revoking the licence, we do agree with the police’s proposed recommendations that have also been agreed with Punch Pubs.”
