Owner of Derbyshire bar which could be stripped of licence due violent incidents claims it has been wrongly singled out

Robert Askew, the owner of Crib Bar in Church Street, Ripley, which he has run since 2001, says the upcoming review of the venue’s licence is based on speculation and factual inaccuracy.

A licensing hearing is to be held on Friday, February 3 by Amber Valley Borough Council, at which the police want to see the venue stripped of its licence.

Police have detailed 47 police incidents linked to The Crib recorded between October 31, 2021, and December 14, 2022, resulting in 42 formal police crime reports.

Mr Askew, in an 80-page rebuttal statement published ahead of the hearing, details his rejection of the police’s apparent assessment of the venue as the source of the town centre’s problems.

He says that numerous incidents on October 31, including one in which a man stabbed another man three times in the abdomen, numerous assaults, a police car being damaged, a police officer being assaulted and a woman being glassed, were all linked to a congregation of mourners getting into an argument.

Mr Askew said the incidents took place while the mourning congregation, which was already highly strung due to attending a memorial, clashed with another party – including someone dressed as a police officer.

The death mourners were paying their respects to had involved the police, Mr Askew writes.

He says the man who had the weapon was searched on entry and one was not discovered, claiming the weapon had been hidden elsewhere in the town centre,

Mr Askew writes: “This weapon was not brought into the Crib Bar and there is no conceivable way that I, or the Crib’s staff, could have known there was a weapon or where it had been concealed.”

He says a member of staff who police report assaulted a member of the public on August 20, 2022, had used “reasonable force” to “defend himself” and no charges were brought by the police.

However, he confirms the staff member no longer works at the venue.

Mr Askew says the assault of a taxi driver on December 19, 2021, cannot be connected to the venue due to the taxi rank sitting 100 metres from the Crib.

He writes that the venue now has a metal detector, operates random searches and has slow-closing doors to prevent them from being slammed on people.

Mr Askew says a September 4, 2022 incident involving a man attacking two other men with a knuckleduster, leaving them with serious injuries, could have been avoided if intel from a previous incident involving the same attacker elsewhere in the area had been passed on to the local Pubwatch scheme

He writes that the knuckleduster was found on the keyring of the man on entry, but it was thought to just be a “cute animal” and did not resemble a weapon.

Mr Askew writes that a October 1, 2022 incident in which a woman destroyed sound equipment actually took place in VooDoo Bar nearby, not in the Crib.

He writes: “The application submitted by Derbyshire Police is repetitious and fails to provide essential background context.

“By way of example, twelve incidents are directly connected to the passing (death) of one individual and are directly attributable to a breakdown of relationships between the police and a section of the community.

“These incidents are amongst the most serious ones cited to justify this request for a review of my licence.

“Whilst the Crib Bar is singled out for criticism in this review, there are other late-night bars and clubs that are open in the early hours that have not been referenced in this application. I am disappointed that there is no reference to the £1 pub.

“In my view, this establishment is at the heart of many of the problems associated with drunken behaviour and disorder, as evidenced in my statement and the calls to East Midlands Ambulance Service.

“Furthermore, I find it extraordinary that we have not been asked for any of the CCTV footage with respect to many of the incidents cited and in many instances have not been made aware of the incidents at the time or since, until receipt of the application

“Finally, it should also be noted that the reputation of the Crib within the local community is a positive one. A decision to revoke the premises licence of the Crib would be detrimental to the local community on a number of levels.”

Mr Askew makes repeated references throughout his rebuttal statement of the neighbouring £1 bar at the Cock Inn/Association.

However, Crib Bar itself has advertised a 90p drink offer, as recently as December, and has come under criticism for the apparent advertising of a “free bar”.

Mr Askew disputes the “free bar” advertisement, which was in fact a £5 entry fee which included five drinks of a unit each.

He writes: “Since January 2022, the £1 a pint pub has fundamentally changed the drinking culture in Ripley Town Centre. There is now a tendency for members of the public to frequent this establishment, to consume vast amounts of alcohol before attempting to access other licensed premises, purchase fast food or leave the area

“It is highly likely that a significant number of the public visiting the Town Centre, will have spent the majority of their evening in the £1 pub before accessing other licensed premises, fast food outlets or the town’s taxi rank. To therefore hold the Crib – or any other responsible licensee responsible for the problems in the town centre, does not reflect the drinking culture that has been allowed to develop over the last twelve months.

“It would be factually incorrect to describe the Crib as having a unique set, or cluster of customers that spend their whole evening in the Crib Bar, consuming vast amounts of alcohol, especially as the Crib is a late bar.”

Law firm Stephensons, acting on behalf of Mr Askew, writes: “The Crib is within the town centre of Ripley, is long established, well managed, with appropriate staffing levels and appropriately qualified staff, is well maintained and has proper security systems in place.

“Much of the disorder which it is said flows from the Crib does not but is caused by others who have drunk elsewhere and who The Crib’s responsible staff have sought to control and or sought the assistance of the police to do so.

“The licensing officers have apparently either ignored this important fact in their assessment or have failed to understand the dynamic of the town centre.

“Whilst examples are given as to violent and anti-social behaviour it appears to be the case that assumptions are made that if violent behaviour has taken place it is behaviour caused by patrons of The Crib.

“In most cases there is simply no evidence at all to support that conclusion and given the number of licensed premises in the area it could not be proper to draw any inferences to that effect.

“In assessing responsibility for behaviour very great care must be taken not to ascribe causative responsibility to a venue which is doing as it should do and calling the police or the ambulance service in relation to incidents in which it is acting as a responsible intervenor.”