Over a ten-month period between the middle of last year and May, police officers recorded 12 incidents at the Halkett Street club and said that it needed an ‘almost permanent police presence’ on Friday and Saturday nights.
The States police licensing unit referred their concerns to the Attorney General, Robert MacRae, and claimed that staff at the club were letting ‘well-known trouble makers in time and again’ and the number of crimes there was higher than any other nightclub in the Island despite its capacity being significantly lower.
The force also referred to a warning given to the club by former Solicitor General Howard Sharp in 2015 after two men carried out a brutal ‘cold-blooded’ attack on a clubber who had been drinking so much in the Havana that he was ‘unable to stand’.
Daniel Jaroslaw Glowienkowski and Arkadiusz Marek Mateusz Kujawski were jailed for the attack on their ‘helpless’ victim in Bath Street.
According to recently released court papers, the Bailiff, Sir William Bailhache, said the Licensing Assembly considered removing the club’s nightclub licence even for a temporary period to try to improve behaviour but chose not to.
The judgment says: ‘However, we wish to make it plain that should there be a significant number of further incidents, the question of designated nightclub status may have to be reconsidered, and we direct the Attorney General to produce a report from the Licensing Unit for consideration by the Assembly at its ordinary meeting in March 2018.’
The club’s former manager, Lyle de Beauvoir de la Cloche, who was replaced by John Young in September last year, was also criticised by the Assembly.
It was said within the judgment that should Mr de la Cloche be considered to manage a licensed premises in the future the Constable of the parish must be satisfied he has learned his lesson.
It was found that Mr de la Cloche, who was at the time a director of European Holdings Ltd, which owns the Havana, failed to ‘appreciate’ what police were telling him during a meeting in March when they aired their concerns. The judgment states he was more concerned about the club’s economic success and blamed troubles on the ‘socio-economic status’ of the Havana’s clients.
No sanctions were brought against him.
Since June, court papers say, significant changes have been made to the nightclub to crack down on drink-fuelled incidents, including changing the dress code and the style of music and replacing the door staff.
Between July and October, statistics show, the Havana is no longer the worst-performing nightclub in terms of arrests.
The Assembly found that it was ‘satisfied that Mr Young’s arrival at the Havana Club, and his appointment as manager, has indeed led to a considerable improvement’.
Jurats Anthony Olsen, Charles Blampied, Jerry Ramsden, Sally Sparrow, Rozanne Thomas and Pamela Pitman were sitting with the Bailiff as the Licensing Assembly.
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