An Ilford pub has temporarily lost its alcohol licence after a young woman reported being raped there last month.
Police requested an urgent review of the alcohol licence for the General Havelock pub in High Road, Ilford, after the reported incident in the early hours of July 23, well after 2am when the pub is meant to close.
According to a police statement submitted to Redbridge Council’s licensing committee, the pub’s owner had already been warned about staying open past 2am following two violent assaults at the pub at around 3.30am in May.
The General Havelock on Ilford High Street. Image: Google Maps
Following the meeting on Friday, August 5, the council’s licensing sub-committee temporarily suspended the General Havelock’s licence ahead of a full review at a future date.
When police investigating the rape asked for the venue’s CCTV on August 1, owner Georgios Balisani and manager Zoe Nisbet claimed there was an “issue with their passwords” and the CCTV engineer was “in Portugal”.
A statement by licensing officer PC Matt Brown added: “This was suspicious as investigating officers for the offence had previously been to the pub and Zoe Nisbet had accessed it then.
“No attempts were made to get someone else to rectify this and police licensing believe that this was solely an attempt to evade providing CCTV footage that would show they were operating beyond their hours.”
According to the police’s statement, pub doorman Giorgi Tsikarishvili claimed the pub had closed by 2am but the council’s CCTV showed “flashing disco lights” and door staff admitting customers “beyond 3am”.
PC Brown argued the pub’s licence should be immediately suspended because the venue poses a “serious risk to the public by repeatedly operating beyond its licensable hours”.
He added: “Police cannot trust the venue to operate lawfully and seek revocation of the premises licence.”
Landlord Georgios Balisani told the Local Democracy Reporting Service the pub did stay open “45 minutes” past its opening hours.
However, he claimed the assaults and rape were outside the pub and “nothing to do with us”.
He added: “We can’t afford to pay our staff, we are so stressed.
“We employ three single mums and four security guards.”
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