Cocktail Club: Bar keeps licence after underage drinking

The Cocktail Club used to be known as London Cocktail Club

A bar has kept its licence after accusations of underage drinking and claims of sexual harassment.

Police submitted a licence review for the Cocktail Club in Cabot Square in Canary Wharf, east London.

They said that staff "spotted clearly underage girls who were drunk and vulnerable" and did not offer support during an incident in December.

On Tuesday a Tower Hamlets council committee voted to let the bar keep its licence subject to certain conditions.

• Club's licence reviewed over underage drinking

The managing director of the company that owns the bar said what happened in December had left her "shocked and disappointed".

Dawn Donohoe, of the London Cocktail Club Ltd, added: "I have two daughters myself and am mortified the incident occurred in one of our premises."

A group of girls had been drinking in the venue for six hours, and one vomited inside the bar, police said.

Staff sacked

PC Michael Rice said the group had not been asked for their ID and that, "most seriously", a number of sexual harassment allegations had been made by female customers visiting the bar.

During the council licensing meeting, Ms Donohoe said she had sacked six members of staff — including two managers — as well as security workers who had been hired through a subcontractor.

The venue has introduced an ID scanner at the door, customers now have their ages checked again at the bar and all training material has been revised, she said.

Further licensing conditions were put in place, including that the venue must keep a record of all refused sales of alcohol and bring in dedicated welfare officers to tend to customers.

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