Club licence suspended over defective CCTV

Beet's Lounge in Pipers Row, Wolverhampton, has had its licence suspended for three months over the breaches

A club's licence has been suspended after opening without door staff and failing to replace an ageing CCTV system.

Beet's Lounge in Pipers Row, Wolverhampton, has had its licence suspended for three months by City of Wolverhampton Council's licensing committee over the breaches.

Licensing chair councillor Zee Russell said the suspension was to allow the club owner, Emmanuel Ndecha Obase Etukeni, to "get his house in order".

She said the committee could have revoked the licence but wanted to give the club owner another chance. However, the club would be stripped of its licence if Mr Etukeni appeared before councillors again.

"This is your final opportunity," warned the council's solicitor Ronald Sempebwa at the hearing on 13 August.

'Just give us time'

The club, formerly known as Manhattan's and Chicago's, opened as Beet's Lounge in June 2024.

West Midlands Police had called for the review over repeated failures to replace an outdated and inadequate CCTV system, and for twice visiting the Pipers Row club - in January and March - to find no door staff working.

Mr Etukeni said his sloppiness had "cost him a lot" but he had addressed the list of concerns and would not reopen until everybody was satisfied.

"My whole life is embedded in the building," he told councillors. "We've not had a single incident since opening... Just give us time please."

West Midlands Police said the club was using an outdated CCTV system that was only in use during opening hours and required a CD to be inserted manually to record footage.

Only three camera feeds were visible on the CCTV monitor, with the rest "non-functional" according to the licensing review application.

The force said Mr Etukeni, the club's licence holder, was also unable to use the CCTV system when asked, and officers found several unlabelled discs after requesting specific footage.

'Risk to public health'

Mr Etukeni was told he had 28 days to fix the issues raised by police, including missing and blank staff logs and incident reports, the ongoing CCTV problems and lack of door staff.

A request for CCTV footage was made by West Midlands Police in May which "remains outstanding", and several attempts for follow-up visits were either ignored or cancelled by the club owner.

A scheduled visit in June was also missed by the club owner, according to the report.

In early June, the council was told the club's supervisor had withdrawn consent, meaning alcohol sales were no longer permitted.

However, police said Mr Etukeni later admitted that alcohol had been served, believing a licence application had been made in time – an application that was later refused as incomplete.

A visit later that June found the CCTV system still had issues, with only a week's worth of footage recorded rather than the month required when requested.

During the last visit on 17 June, police told the licence holder that the venue must not open to the public until the CCTV was fixed.

The council's public health team said the issues had "significantly undermined" the licensing objectives and "presented a risk to public health and community safety".