BBC
A nightclub where a footballer was stabbed to death on the dance floor has lost its licence amid fears it posed “terrifying” risks to public safety.
Cody Fisher was killed at the Crane venue in Digbeth, Birmingham, on Boxing Day (26 December).
Police had asked the council to revoke the licence permanently, citing drugs misuse as well as security concerns.
On the night Mr Fisher died, three people needed medical help due to drugs, police told a licensing hearing.
Evidence from several bodies was considered by a licensing committee on Tuesday.
A licence suspension which came into force on 30 December remains in place pending any appeal against the finding to revoke.
Representations on behalf of the club were held in private but ahead of the council’s decision, a spokesperson had said revoking the licence would be “wholly inappropriate”.
Three men have been charged with murdering 23-year-old Mr Fisher, a sports coach from Redditch, Worcestershire, who played for non-league Stratford Town.
Gary Grant, representing the West Midlands force in a public portion of Tuesday’s hearing, urged councillors to pull the licence, saying the venue posed a “grave risk” to public safety and also of crime and disorder.
Door searches were “inconsistent or haphazard”, he told the committee, and, citing bags of white powder, added there was “blatant and widespread” use of drugs.
The meeting heard that video footage from the night in question showed a person inhaling from a balloon believed to contain nitrous oxide, regardless of a police presence that emerged following the stabbing.
Council enforcement officer Shaid Ali told members the terms of the licence required the venue to have a zero-tolerance policy on drugs, adding “it’s quite clear its policy wasn’t being enforced”…
