Councillors deciding future of Kaos nightspot after police ask for review of licence

The future of Kaos bar in Queen Street was put before a licensing review panel at Blackpool Town Hall after an application by Lancashire Police in which the force expressed serious concerns over the “sheer volume” of call-outs to the club, which opens till 5am seven days a week.

It said Kaos repeatedly came to the attention of its licensing department after officers responded to 284 reports over 12 months from August 2021 to August 2022.

The force claims that more than twice as many assaults were reported at Kaos than any other venue in Blackpool and licensing sergeant Nat Cox told the review meeting that the numerous callouts to deal with assaults and disorder were causing increased stress and anxiety among officers.as well as taking them away from other duties.

In its application, the force said: “The sheer volume of calls that police receive in relation to Kaos means that officers are often diverted from dealing with other incidents across Blackpool and further afield to resolve fights within and outside the venue.

"The main concern of the police is that the next assault within or outside the venue will be so serious as to result in life changing injuries or, ultimately, the loss of life.”

Lancashire Police has asked the Council to review the premises licence and has made it clear that it would like to see it revoked altogether.

Of the total of 284 logs recorded by police at Kaos over 12 months, 76 were recorded as assaults, 16 as public order offences and 27 as a variety of other crimes. Sgt Cox showed the licensing panel hearing a number of CCTV images of incidents outside Kaos in the early hours, mainly around closing time.

But Mark Marshall, representing Kaos at the hearing, said licence holder Neil Cropper was anxious to work with police to resolve issues and highlighted that many of the reported incidents were the result of the nightspot’s location rather than anything happening inside.

“Mr Cropper has a track record of working well with the police and is keen to do so,” said Mr Marshall. “This is not someone who goes around breaching a licence recklessly.

“The location of Kaos (at the Dickson Road end of Queen Street) is very different to that of the other end of Queen Street, where there is a visible police presence into the early hours.”

Mr Marshall said that once the police logs had been independently scrutinised and split into green, amber and red incidents (green for matters felt to be not connected to the premises, amber for those which may possibly be connected but had insufficient detail to make a clear determination and red clearly connected), more than 100 of the 284 incidents logged over the 12 months concerned were “not relevant” to the statistic.

He added that measures to help alleviate disorder had already been taken by Kaos, including allowing customers to leave the premises gradually in the half hour allowed after closing time rather than all at once.

The police database which records incidents across the county, shows Queen Street, Blackpool had the third highest violent crime rate in the whole of Lancashire over the past 12 months.

Blackpool Council licensing manager Lee Petrak told the hearing that the area of the street towards Dickson Road as considered an “area of high risk” and confirmed that Kaos has been the “most concerning premises” to the local authority in the last 12 months.

There are several options available to the panel members following the hearing, ranging from no action through to full revocation of the licence, as suggested by the police.

A decision is expected within five working days.