A Reading nightclub is expected to temporarily close after cocaine was discovered at the venue.
The Gun Street Garden opened in 2019, and has two rooms and decks, a rooftop bar, and a smoking area.
The venue was reported by Thames Valley Police (TVP) and Reading Borough Council licensing officers after cocaine was found in the gents’ and ladies’ toilets.
The force’s licensing officer, Declany Smyth, said officers had been called the venue to respond to an ‘alarming number of incidents’ – more than 40, according to a report made by police to Reading Borough Council.
These included minor and major assaults, disorder, and underage drinking.
That led PC Smyth to call on the local authority for the premise licence to be reviewed.
The review was heard in private at a Reading Borough Council licensing applications sub-committee meeting on February 15, as evidence contained information about ongoing investigations.
Publicly available documents show concerns over traces of cocaine and the opiate oxycodone in the venue’s toilets following a visit from police on Friday, December 22, where they swabbed cubicles and sink areas.
Responding, a representative of the club wrote the police had incorrectly listed their experience with the venue as ‘negative’ and that staff act in an ‘excellent’ and ‘incredibly professional’ manner.
They also said not all the 40 incidents recorded by the police were directly related to the venue, but at other locations in Gun Street.
The response said the venue had only one ‘performance review’ with police and council licensing officers, which was four years ago, on January 23, 2020.
While officers have conducted a series of follow-up inspections at the premises, the owners were emailed by a council officer on June 30, 2022, stating that they were ‘pleased that most of the issues’ raised at an inspection that month had been rectified.
The representative added that there has been ‘no contact of any note’ between council and police licensing officers and the Gun Street Garden since July 2022.
It was also noted that Gun Street Garden conducts a Challenge 25 age verification policy.
At a licensing review meeting held on Thursday, February 15, councillors considered the evidence and chose to suspend the club’s licence for two months.
Licensable activities include areas such alcohol sales and playing music into the early hours, prompting councillors to believe the venue will have to close temporarily during the two-month suspension period.
Part of the review agreed to conduct staff training, introduce a new operations manual, and introduce additional operating measures to address the concerns raised.
The operators of Gun Street Garden declined to comment.
