Black Country bar can stay open but must find new licence holder after serious police concerns
A bar and grill can stay open but will have to find a new licence holder after police said they had ‘little faith’ in the current owner.
Sandwell Council has ruled that MS Bar and Grill in Oldbury must find a new venue supervisor after owner Mandeep Sanghera was struck off following “serious” concerns from West Midlands Police.
Police had called on Sandwell Council to investigate “serious” concerns over the “uncontrolled consumption of alcohol” and “the age of some people at the premises” during the Black Country derby between West Bromwich Albion and Wolverhampton Wanderers on Sunday, January 28.
Much of the four-hour hearing on March 19 was held in private with West Midlands Police showing councillors excerpts of body-cam footage captured by officers at the Oldbury venue during the “high-risk” football game in January.
Councillors said they had been shown evidence by West Midlands Police of patrons drinking alcohol at the venue on January 28 where the game kicked off at the Hawthorns at 11.45am – 15 minutes before the venue is licenced to open and begin serving.
Ms Sanghera told the hearing her brother, who she believed was the holder of a personal alcohol licence but is not named on MS Bar and Grill’s licence, had been left in charge on the morning of the Black Country derby and she was not present.
West Midlands Police then argued the admission made their concerns “even more serious” as he was “not a layperson” and “should have known better.”
