Venue licence revoked over safety measures

The 700-capacity venue opened last year despite building regulations never being signed off, said West Midlands Fire Service

An entertainment venue in Wolverhampton has had its licence revoked after being accused of putting the public at risk by ignoring safety measures.

Astoria, on Skinner Street, breached a key condition of its licence when managers continually failed to notify West Midlands Police before big events.

Police said the breach had led to disorder at the venue, including officers having to attend with tasers.

The BBC has previously attempted to make contact with the club for a response.

The venue also failed to provide officers with CCTV footage on time, said police.

The 700-capacity venue has hosted Sky Sports boxing, Bongo's Bingo, and Euro 2024 games after opening last year.

The force said Astoria bosses were "undermining people's safety", despite being given several reminders.

City of Wolverhampton Council's licensing department agreed with West Midlands Police saying the venue had shown "total disregard" for the conditions in its licence and was putting the public at risk.

A hearing was told the venue ignored calls and emails from licensing officers.

The council's licensing committee chair Councillor Zee Russell said: "I think they are very lucky that they haven't had a serious incident there."

She added that the venue's owners had "no thought for anybody but the till".

The venue continued advertising events despite knowing they needed to notify police, the licensing committee was told.

West Midlands Fire Service said owners had "failed on numerous occasions" to complete fire safety checks and check-list of work that needed to be completed before the venue could open to the public was never completed.

The fire service added that building regulations had never been signed off after the building was converted from a bingo hall to events venue in 2008.

This news was gathered by the Local Democracy Reporting Service which covers councils and other public service organisations.