Police request licence review of Sleaford pub after underage staff and drug taking reports

UPDATE WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 1: This meeting was postponed to Monday, December 13 after a number of councillors sent apologies for absence, leaving the meeting inquorate and unable to take decisions.

A pub in Sleaford is set to face a licence review at police’s request, after officers filed reports of a 15-year-old working behind the bar and customers regularly taking drugs.

The Bull and Dog on Southgate in Sleaford will face the alcohol and entertainment licensing sub committee hearing at 10am on Wednesday, December 1, after a number of alleged licence breaches at the pub.

It comes after Lincolnshire Police’s licensing officers have “had cause to visit the premises on many occasions in the last year”, including reports of drug taking, underage staff members and sexual assault within the building.

Police say that the premises was found to be breaching a number of its licence conditions, such as no staff training, no age verification policy, breaching CCTV conditions and the designated premises supervisor (DPS) not presenting himself to police at officer request.

On September 10, 2021, intelligence was given to police in reference to a 15-year-old working behind the bar serving alcohol after midnight. The day after this, a report was made that a female had been offered drugs by someone in the pub, and she was allegedly removed from the premises after informing a member of staff.

The DPS stated to police that the staff member working behind the bar was in fact underage, and that no work permit was in place for the child.

Officers say during their “many” visits to the Bull and Dog, they were never greeted by the licence holder, but his business partner and other staff members instead, who were “often obstructive” to police.

All questions asked by police aimed at the licence holder were deferred to his business partner, who responded by saying he was unaware of his responsibilities as it had never been relayed to him.

PC Jonathan Jones provided a witness statement for the hearing, which stated that he was made aware of an incident that took place on September 18, which reportedly saw someone sexually assaulted on the dance floor of the bar at around 11.50pm.

The officers states that the victim reported the incident to the door staff who “ejected the offender”, but upon police investigation it was discovered that no details had been recorded in the Bull and Dog’s incident book, despite a condition in the licence premises stating that all details of crime/disorder must be recorded.