April 29, 2010 8.22 pm This story is over 175 months old

Bar closed after underage drinking reports

Licensing crackdown: Riley’s Snooker Club was closed after public reports that underage youths were drinking on the premises.

Licensing officers from the Lincolnshire Police closed on Wednesday, April 28th, the Riley’s Snooker Club in Silver Street, following reports of underage drinking on the premises of the bar.

The licensing officers were prompted to visit Riley’s Snooker Club after reports from the public claimed that underage youth were drinking at the bar, as well as having “unrestricted access” to the club, which was supposedly for private members only.

The police inspection found that Riley’s membership rules had been allowed to lapse, and that there was no controlled access to the club’s premises. Under 18 membership identification cards were not distinctly defined either, the licensing officers devised.

Due to the breaches found by the Lincolnshire Police licensing officers, Riley’s Snooker Club was served a section 19 Closure Notice, with immediate effect.

“This premises was basically being run as an open bar, against the terms of its conditions. It is a private members club with strict conditions on access for a reason, and if it applied for a licence to run as an open bar it would probably be turned down on the grounds that this area of town already has a large number of pubs and clubs,” said Inspector Paul Stubbs, Head of the West Division Licensing Team.

The closure of Riley’s Snooker Club is part of a police crackdown on licensing laws. In recent weeks, several other Lincoln bars were targeted by license enforcement officers, which led to the temporary closure of locations like Essence and Quayside.

“There are a number of premises in town which think they can get away with not adhering to the conditions of their licence – they can’t, and this is a demonstration of that,” Stubbs added.

Source: Lincolnshire Police | Photo: Google Street View | Related reports: BBC, Lincolnshire Echo