Pub shut down after lock-in ends in armed brawl

The brawl followed a lock-in at the Seaforth Arms in Sefton

A pub has been shut down after an illegal lock-in ended with a mass brawl which saw women attacked and left with head injuries by men with bottles and metal bars.

The Seaforth Arms in Sefton was stripped of its licence permanently by councillors on 21 October after a request from Merseyside Police.

The force had received a call about a group of women emerging from the pub, at 03:45 BST on Sunday 21 September, and fighting in the street.

A police report said: "One is allegedly heard to say, 'get the lads' and a short time later a group of males arrive, throwing bottles at people and armed with metal poles that they subsequently used to assault four people."

Officers found a woman, slightly away from the Seaforth Road pub, "unconscious and fitting" while other women and a man had also been injured, the Local Democracy Reporting Service reports.

The police report, submitted to Sefton Council's licensing sub-committee, said the pub only had a licence to sell alcohol until 01:00 on the day and nobody in the pub had called the police.

'Completely unacceptable'

The report said: "Some of the parties involved have links to a local organised crime group."

Three males aged 19, 21 and 15 were arrested on suspicion of affray and have since been bailed.

A woman and man, both in their 40s, and a 16-year-old girl were taken to hospital for various injuries and have since been discharged.

Merseyside Police said it had also received separate reports of underage drinking, drug use and the sale of alcohol after licensable hours.

Sefton Council imposed a temporary revocation of the licence last month ahead of a full hearing on 21 October - where the licence was removed permanently.

Insp Ken Sumner said: "This premises was a serious cause for concern in our community and the violent incident last month resulted in three people needing hospital treatment.

"This is completely unacceptable and we requested a review of its licence, which has resulted in it being revoked and the pub shut down."