Coventry pub Oak Inn loses licence

The long-standing city centre pub has had its licence revoked following crime incidents and a rape allegation. 

The Oak Inn, Coventry

According to West Midlands police, licence holder Darren Lee failed to take action following the alleged rape offence which took place in September. 

 Despite the decision, the pub is allowed to operate during a 21-day appeal period. 

 Licensing and regulatory services officer Phillip Horton, who constructed the application for a licence review, confirmed police wanted Mr Lee removed as premises supervisor. 

 The application also stated that police were not contacted following the rape allegation and that the victims account was ‘undermined’ in terms of credibility. 

 Additionally, the application acknowledged the large number of incidents of crime and disorder at the establishment, with police called out 25 times within five months. 

 In addition to the alleged rape, the Oak Inn has seen numerous fights, bouncers attacking female customers and one member of door staff hit over the head with a brick since its reopening in April. 

 With nightclubs being closed due to the coronavirus pandemic, the Oak Inn became a popular hotspot for young people from July 2020 due to its late opening hours.

19-year-old Lizzy Madeloff was one of these young people and saw first-hand a lot of the incidents that unravelled in the venue. 

 ‘I saw violence most weekends. Fights between staff and customers and the staff used excessive force to remove customers.’

 Lizzy agrees that the establishment should have its licence suspended, as she believes it will help younger people to ‘feel safer’ attending bars on Far Gosford Street. 

 However, she is wary that a closure of the establishment will only lead to violence moving ‘somewhere nearby’ and that another solution could be to ‘police the town centre better’. 

 The recent events that have taken place in the Oak have turned away some previous regular customers, one of which being 56-year-old Maureen Sedgwick. 

 Maureen had attended the Oak on ‘most weekends’ for the past four years but has been ‘put off’ by the disorder over the past months. 

 ‘It’s just not a nice place to be anymore. Maybe it’s okay in the week but on weekends it was swarming with a younger crowd and trouble was never far around the corner

 ‘It was a lot harder to feel relaxed and safe which means you can’t really enjoy the night’. 

 Asked whether or not the licence being suspended would be a good thing, Maureen said ‘Yes for a while if it will help investigations. But in the long term it should stay open with a fresh atmosphere and a real clamping down on the riff-raff’. 

 Not only has the Oak seen all of these incidents take place within a six-month period, the Track and Trace system recently revealed that 11 staff members caught coronavirus in July of this year. 

 This is another damaging statistic that contributed towards the revoking of the licence. 

 Updates on the appeal process will follow in due course.