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Police and council officers were threatened, abused and left in fear while carrying out a routine licensing check at a Brighton venue.
The Copper Rooms “premises licence holder” Rachit Mehrotra was “intoxicated”, an official report said, and the venue’s unnamed DJ was drunk, swore at the team and forcibly threatened to throw them out.
Police back up arrived and the venue was shut for the night. It stayed shut the next night too. Days later, police found evidence of “a bulk amount” of cocaine in the toilets of the Preston Street bar.
Traces of the class A drug were also found in the DJ booth, on the main bar, the front bar and on a table.
The DJ was interviewed by the police. He said sorry and was let off with “a community resolution” – but the Copper Rooms, also known as the Cocktail Rooms, may have its drinks licence suspended.
The venue may also have to appoint a new “designated premises supervisor” because council licensing officials said that they had “no confidence” in 48-year-old Mr Mehrotra to do the job.
Sussex Police applied to Brighton and Hove City Council for a formal review of the licence and called for it to be suspended, effectively showing the business a “yellow card”.
The trouble came to a head in the early hours of Saturday 6 May at the premises at 76-78 Preston Street and 12a Regency Square, Brighton.
The report to a council licensing panel said that PC Andre Bernascone and his colleagues found that the premises licence holder Rachit Mehrotra was “intoxicated”.
The report also said that “the DJ was drunk” and so was a woman with a large glass of wine who was said to be the DJ’s wife.
Mr Mehrotra said that a young woman working behind the bar had served “the drunk female”.
The report to the licensing panel said: “During the visit several of the customers were making constant negative comments towards the officers about the licence check.
“One customer sitting by the door swore at the officers and PC Bernascone spoke to him about his language and behaviour. He also showed his police ID to the male which was noticed by some of the other customers.
“After this the atmosphere deteriorated, especially after the DJ approached the officers in a forceful manner while shouting, ‘No one told me the fucking police were here.’ (He) forcibly instructed us to leave while threatening to throw us out himself.
“PC Bernascone tried calmly to communicate with the male DJ while he was being aggressive. The DJ also stated: ‘Of course there are drunk people. It’s a fucking bar.’
“While shouting, the DJ got right into the face of PC Bernascone. His behaviour and the fact that others in the bar had now appeared and were also now shouting at the officers, ‘to get out, to fucking get out,’ and, ‘it’s a bar. We’re allowed to be drunk. Go home!’ made him believe that they were at serious risk of immediate harm if they did not leave.
The team of police and licensing officers left and PC Bernascone called for back up.
The report said: “PC Bernascone called for uniformed officers on his police radio to attend due to his concerns over the premises and the safety of the other people inside due to the levels of intoxication and the aggressive threatening behaviour.”
The premises were closed and remained closed the next night too, with the unnamed DJ voluntarily attending a police interview within the week.
The report said: “The DJ attended the police station. He was interviewed under caution for the public order offence.
“Following his remorse and apology to the licensing officers (victims), a community resolution disposal was authorised as necessary and proportionate to the circumstances of the incident.”
Mr Mehrotra told the council licensing panel today (Thursday 27 July) that he had no plans to employ the DJ again after the incident.
The panel of three councillors heard that police ordered Mr Mehrotra to hand over CCTV (closed-circuit television) footage from the evening.
A memory stick was handed into the police. But rather than showing video footage of the incident from all the venue’s cameras, it contained only still pictures from just two cameras – and covering the wrong time.
Council licensing officer Emily Fountain told councillors that she had “no confidence” in Mr Mehrotra as a designated premises supervisor (DPS). The incident showed that he had no control over the premises.
She said: “Since a routine licensing inspection in September 2022, following a complaint about the premises, we’ve made numerous attempts to work with the DPS.
“Despite substantial officer interaction, including visits, advice and warnings, there has been little improvement and a complete lack of communication from the DPS to most of the correspondence.
“It is my opinion the premises is poorly run, there have been breaches of the premises licence and the licensing objectives are not being upheld.”
Mr Mehrotra said that the DJ night was an experiment only and that any issues highlighted by the council licensing team were because the business was experiencing teething troubles.
His solicitor, Nicholas Perkins, said that there had been no noise complaints since February and that proposed licence conditions, agreed with the police, would address any noise concerns.
There would be no DJ – and flat surfaces had been removed to prevent drug use in the toilets.
Mr Perkins said: “My client is a responsible individual who has learned his lesson. He is devoting his attention properly to these premises now.
“The authorities have the comfort of him voluntarily accepting the ‘yellow card’ which is a third of the way down the slippery slope.”
The panel – councillors John Hewitt, Ivan Lyons and Alison Thomson – retired to reach their decision which should be made public within five working days.
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