Magistrates meeting to decide fate of Syndicate

by Tony Halstead

A dossier of evidence about under-age drinking, assaults, robbery, disorder and dancefloor sex have been levelled at the UK's biggest nightclub, the Syndicate, at Blackpool, during a six-day licensing revocation hearing.

Now magistrates are to spend tomorrow (Friday) assessing the evidence in private before deciding whether to revoke its licence next week.

The court heard details of the use of unregistered doormen, 13-year-old youngsters consuming alcohol and CCTV film wiped to erase incidents at the club.

Police lawyer Gerald Gouriet said this pointed to a premises which was not being run in an orderly fashion.

Gouriet added that customers had been robbed of jewellery while others had been viciously assaulted by doormen.

A woman police officer also revealed how she saw an apparent sex act committed by a man and a woman on the club's stage.

Police said incidents at the Syndicate outnumbered other nightclub venues in the town by three to one.

The club was opened in 2002 by entrepreneurs Mike and Sandra Nordwind but since its launch police said they had logged 1,171 incidents, ranging from fights to assaults, thefts and drug offences.

But the club's solicitor Martin Walsh queried the figures supplied by police, claiming many of them had never even resulted in a prosecution or conviction.

He said that when the club applied to renew its public entertainment licence in 2003 there were no police objections, even when the club wanted to increase its capacity to 4,000.

Relations became strained when the club refused a police request to reduce its capacity, with Mike Nordwind suggesting there was a basic personality clash between himself and police licensing chiefs.

In recent weeks, magistrates in Nottingham have revoked the licence of the Works nightclub and in London they revoked the licence of the Hippodrome.