Darlington venue's licence changed after man's ear partially bitten off

The art deco venue is a former cinema

A venue's licence has been changed after a man had part of his ear bitten off at an unlicensed boxing event.

After "violent disorder" at the The Majestic, on Bondgate, Darlington, on 21 October, the venue's licence was suspended by town councillors and its supervisor was removed.

Councillors saw CCTV footage of the incident during an emergency meeting.

Darlington Borough Council's licensing committee has now reinstated the licence with conditions attached.

A man has been arrested over the incident and a police investigation is ongoing, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

The latest meeting, on Wednesday, was told that police had worked closely with Hayley Warters, a company director at The Majestic, when discussing changes to its licence. 

Mrs Warters told the meeting more staff training and risk assessments would be done and more licence holders would be on site to ensure the safety of attendees. 

Licensing officers approved plans to cut the venue's closing time from 3am to 1am.

Children will be allowed in until 10pm when accompanied by an adult but will not be allowed to attend sporting events. 

A newly designated premises supervisor needs to be appointed before it can sell alcohol again. 

The licensing committee chairman, Kevin Nicholson, said: "We are aware you will need a [supervisor] in place before you can start selling alcohol again. Members feel the conditions satisfy our concerns."

The venue is an art-deco former Odeon cinema which became a snooker club in 1986. That closed in 2014 and was later known as Magic and Mayhem before becoming The Majestic in 2015.