Higham Ferrers pub facing action after major breach of social distancing laws

Residents have said Green Dragon Hotel customers were 'behaving like animals' when the pub reopened on July 4
Revellers were seen urinating and drinking in the street.Revellers were seen urinating and drinking in the street.
Revellers were seen urinating and drinking in the street.

A Higham Ferrers pub that held a mass gathering and breached social distancing laws is facing a licence review.

About 200 young revellers were involved in the drinkfest at the Green Dragon Hotel in College Street on July 4 – the first day pubs could open again after lockdown rules were relaxed.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Social distancing went out of the window at the event, as licensing officers witnessed queues ten deep at the bar, staff without PPE and were themselves threatened by customers who stopped them taking video footage.

There were fights in the street and public disorder as drinkers were urinating and vomiting – with one drunk woman falling and hitting her head. Drug debris was also littered on nearby pavements.

The pub, which is owned by Wexford Inns Limited and managed by Linda Morgan, could now face new stricter licensing conditions banning it from having outside music, ensuring more door staff and controlling customer numbers.

Two improvement notices and a community protection notice have been served on the venue.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

A report that will go to East Northants Council’s licensing panel next Wednesday (August 26) has revealed events became so disruptive that nearby churchgoers could not hear themselves speak. A gang of young people that night also tried to stop the nearby Co-op from closing its doors at 10pm.

In the report environmental health officer Adam French, who has applied for the licensing review, outlined what happened after he and licensing officer Rita Groves went down to the pub and first of all observed what was happening from the car park.

He said: “It quickly became apparent there was a large gathering of people, mainly in their twenties and thirties at the premises, both inside the building and outside in the large beer garden. I estimated there were about 150 people in the garden. The outside bar area situated in the old stable block was open and it was evident there was no social distancing in place and little appeared to have been done to minimise the risk of transmission of Covid-19 at the venue.”

The officer then decided to go into the courtyard, where drinkers were queuing ten deep at the outside bar and not observing social distancing at the tables.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

He said: “During this time I attempted to take video footage of the area. I was prevented from doing this by three male customers who took offence to me holding my phone up. They were clearly intoxicated: I could smell alcohol on the breath of one of them who got right in my face and started to verbally assault me.

“I stated who I was and attempted to show my ID but this made no difference. The altercation nearly got physical when I noted a member of door staff and the manager Linda Morgan. I shouted to the customer to move away from me and then shouted to Mrs Morgan to tell her to get her customers to back off from me, which she did.”

The manager said she did not want to speak to the officers outside and asked them into her office, but they declined as they did not feel safe.

They then called the police and sat outside, watching more gangs of young people heading to the pub as well as fighting and drunken behaviour.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

At 6.30pm a police van arrived and one officer filmed what was going on. At 8pm the county’s police officer with responsibility for licensing PC David Bryan attended, but left after walking around and not being able to gain access to the main bar because of the crowds and his own social distancing concerns.

According to a resident, police asked drinkers to leave at 9.30pm.

The licensing panel has received a number of representations from people who live near the pub and the council’s environmental health department was also contacted the next day. Many say the venue has been an ongoing nuisance in recent years.

One resident who emailed the council’s environmental health department wrote: “Pub goers were urinating everywhere. People were behaving like animals. They were allowed to take their alcoholic drinks off the premises and hand around in groups on the land outside. All of the above anti-social activities are also guaranteed during any of the Green Dragons’s special events, where shear (sic) numbers are far too high for their facilities to cope, even in normal times. During the cv-19 pandemic it could be downright lethal.”

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

One complainer whose wife witnessed a woman urinating in a nearby garden said: “I and other residents feel very let down that this was allowed to happen, bearing in mind the past few months of lockdown and the threat of the covid virus still over us.”

Another said: “It’s a great shame that the Green Dragon Hotel has been allowed to degenerate to this level. It seems that neither the ownership/management nor their new clientèle have any respect for other people. Since the current ownership/management took over, what used to be a warm and friendly local family pub in a picturesque small market town, has somehow become the acknowledged hub for the gathering of yobbish binge-drinkers and drug-takers from near and far.”

When licensing officer Rita Groves met with the manager Linda Morgan five days after the event she said she was unaware of any issues on July 4.

When officers returned to the pub on July 11 to look at what Covid safety measures the pub had put in place the manager refused to deal with them, asking her head doorman to instead, and then filmed the officers on her mobile phone.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Rita Groves says in her report: “Being the DPS of a premises is a position of responsibility and I am disappointed that Linda Morgan does not recognise this.

“During this unprecedented pandemic she should be doing everything she can to work with Northamptonshire Police and the local authority in order to keep her staff and her customers safe.”

The recommendation is to put in conditions on the current licence, however if deemed serious enough the panel could decide to stop the venue from operating.

A message from the Editor:

Thank you for reading this story on our website. While I have your attention, I also have an important request to make of you.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

In order for us to continue to provide high quality and trusted local news on this free-to-read site, I am asking you to also please purchase a copy of our newspaper when you do your weekly shop.

Our journalists are highly trained and our content is independently regulated by IPSO to some of the most rigorous standards in the world. But being your eyes and ears comes at a price. So we need your support more than ever to buy our newspapers during this crisis.

With the coronavirus lockdown having a major impact on many of our local valued advertisers - and consequently the advertising that we receive - we are more reliant than ever on you helping us to provide you with news and information by buying a copy of our newspaper.

Thank you

David Summers

Related topics: