Gatecrasher Closed: Birmingham club officially shut down

Birmingham’s biggest Broad Street Nightclub was officially shut down at a hearing on Wednesday 25, following a series of recent violent episodes.

The decision from the the city council’s licensing and public protection committee was unanimous and not unexpected after repeated warnings from the local police.

Gatecrasher’s licence was suspended after a violent incident on Halloween night, when a victim was stabbed in the leg and security staff were allegedly involved in an armed brawl with customers.

The nightclub’s lawyers appealed the suspension ahead of the hearing, but this was rejected on the grounds that panel members had “no faith in alternative proposals made.” The sub-committee in charge of the appeal also expressed “grave concerns” over the issue of 2 suspensions within the space of 3 months.

The club was popular with Warwick students Photo: Elliott Brown / Flickr

West Midlands’ superintendent Andrew Beard reported prior to the hearing that the police would be calling for full license revocation.

Gatecrasher’s licence was last suspended after a customer was reportedly attacked by a bouncer on August 15, but the West Midlands Police revoked the decision, warning permanent closure in the case of future violence.

In a licensing meeting a month after the initial incident, PC Abdul Rohoman told councillors: “This really is the last chance saloon for these premises.”

“It’s unusual for us to come here and ask for no further action. But if it had not been for what the club has done in the last month we would have been asking for a revocation.”

“We believe lessons have been learned. We are not saying they should get away scot-free.”

“We want to put on record that there is not much more we can do. We are not proposing extra conditions because they are already there.”

“Oh my God. I can’t believe it’s closed, it was my favourite club.”

Harmeet Randhawa

Club spokesman Raymond Veighty responded at the time: “There were gaps, but these have been remedied.” He also claimed the steps taken would minimise future risks.

Yasmin Shaikh, a first-year Biochemistry student who was in Birmingham on the night of the most recent attack criticised the confrontational attitude of bouncers. She added that on the night “security seemed more tight in terms of getting into other clubs; we were IDed more than once for the same place.”

Psychology student Sophia Spady commented: “It was irritating. Nothing was said about it being closed and every other club was really unaccommodating about what happened. It was really confusing and pretty much ruined my night.”

Harmeet Randhawa, a third-year Classical Civilisation student said: “Oh my God. I can’t believe it’s closed, it was my favourite club.”

Following the announcement of the clubs closure, twitter has been awash with people commenting on the closure.

R.I.P to the legend, the myth, that is gatecrasher broadstreet – thanks for the mems ?????

— James Thynne (@officialThynne) November 25, 2015

No more Gatecrasher… heartbroken.

— Z O E M C (@ZoeMcLernon) November 25, 2015

https://twitter.com/Xhenxhefil/status/669607693758423040

An online petition has also been started to get the club to re-open.

Gatecrasher’s website has yet to make mention of the club’s official closure.