The Met Police said Tap Sidcup also hosted an 18th birthday party with “suspiciously young clientele” – it could now lose its licence
A woman assaulted with a glass, reports of fighting, possible underage drinking and an all-night drug-fuelled poker game could lead to a Bexley bar losing its premises licence.
The Met Police and Bexley Council want to revoke the licence of Tap—a drinking establishment at 3 Wellington Parade on Blackfen Road in Sidcup —due to evidence of drug use, illegal gambling and public disorder at the venue.
On March 20, a fight occurred at Tap during which a woman was assaulted with a glass. When police were called to the bar, they found “customers who were heavily intoxicated, still fighting and it took some time to obtain control”.
Officers discovered that an 18th birthday party was taking place at the venue. Council documents state that police reported “there was little or no management control at the venue, persons were still fighting when they arrived, and the clientele was suspiciously young”.
Tap’s designated premises supervisor (DPS) Maria Tray was not present and was on holiday at the time of the March 20 event, a report to Bexley Council’s Licensing Sub-Committee states.
According to the council, Ms Tray admitted during a meeting on March 31 that Tap staff had not been checking IDs for customers upon entry, no security staff were employed for the evening, no manager had been on duty and plastic glasses were not considered for use.
At this meeting, it was also discovered that CCTV at the venue was not working and the bar was waiting for an engineer to come and fix the system. This was a direct breach of Tap’s licence, which states that CCTV footage must be recorded whilst the venue is open for licensable activities such as selling alcohol.
Tap was warned that if it continued to sell alcohol while the system was down, this could result in prosecution. Police and the council were informed the following day that the CCTV system was working again.
Just over a week later, Bexley Council received two complaints from residents alleging an all-night poker game had taken place at Tap on April 9. Police and council officers requested CCTV footage from the night in question, which they eventually received on April 21.
Police reports state that the footage shows “hours of gambling on the premises” which took place at a professional poker table with about ten people involved in the game and a bar maid serving drinks to the players.
The footage also allegedly showed physical money being handed over to players, suggesting “such activity is being conducted for financial gain rather than incidental gaming”.
Council documents also claimed that the poker players were regularly smoking cigarettes and drinking alcohol throughout the night, as well as rolling and smoking several cannabis joints.
CCTV reportedly showed one man cutting “three lines of white powder on the back of a mobile phone” at the table who then proceeded to sniff them along with another player. Police said “no one bats an eyelid at this activity” in the footage while at the table.
According to Bexley Council, Tap has been made aware that its licence may be revoked but the venue has not responded to the application made by the council’s licensing team to review the licence.
Bexley Council’s Licensing Sub-Committee will decide whether to revoke Tap’s premises licence on June 18.
Got a story? email [email protected]
Don’t miss out on the biggest local stories. Sign up to our MySouthLondon newsletter HERE for all the latest daily news and more.
