Fight leads to Rutherglen pub's licence suspension
Mar 13 2013
by Douglas Dickie, Rutherglen Reformer
A mass brawl which left five police officers injured has led to the Cathkin Inn pub in Rutherglen having its licence suspended for five days.
The incident took place at an 18th birthday party on Saturday, November 17 last year.
Licensing Sergeant Andy Macdonald told a Rutherglen and Cambuslang Licensing Board last week that there had been a “large scale disturbance.”
He said two officers attended the party at around 10.20pm where they allege they saw a 16-year-old male and a 15-year-old male with a “white powder” on them.
When the police tried to arrest the pair, they resisted and other partygoers became “hostile.”
One of the suspects escaped and despite help from door security, a female police officer was allegedly headbutted and kicked on the head.
They called for backup and a further four officers were injured.
Twelve arrests were made on the night while the male who escaped was arrested the next day. Four of those arrested were under 18.
Sergeant Macdonald said the incident had been affected by a “mix of underage youths, alcohol and drugs,” and the police had concerns about the “general lack of control.”
Andrew Hunter of Harper and MacLeod, was representing the licenceholder, Paul Nelson, as well as the Cathkin Inn manager Thomas Bowie.
He said Mr Nelson had six other pubs in the west of Scotland and was vice-chair of the Glasgow pub watch scheme.
He said the pub had stopped taking bookings for 18th birthday parties, something that had a “significant impact on the business,” but they wanted to start doing them again and suggested a condition be putting in place banning anyone under the age of 18 being allowed on the premises during functions. The licence had allowed under 18s to attend functions until 11pm.
He said of the incident itself that “stewards and staff handled it appropriately,” and said seeing family members being arrested had “created a hostile atmosphere,” among the crowd. Additional measures have now been put in place to avoid a repeat added Mr Nelson.
He added: “We truly view this event as a one off.”
Sergeant Macdonald also praised the staff for their reaction, but said: “There was clearly underage drinking taking place (and) high levels of drunkeness on the premises.
“As a result of this incident, other premises have stopped taking 18th birthday parties.”
Mr Nelson said: “It’s fair to say Mr Nelson and Mr Bowie are not suggesting the incident was acceptable but at the same time we believe it was handled appropriately.
“They could not have known when the function was booked that the incident could have happened.
“We have held our hands up. The only error we made was allowing underage people to be on the premises.”
The board decided the pub had failed to prevent crime and secure public safety and suspended the licence from 7pm on Wednesday (March 6) to 11am on Monday morning (March 11).
They also attached a variation to the licence banning anyone under the age of 18 attending functions for under 21s.
