Club handed closure order over alcohol sales after people leave ‘highly intoxicated’

Emily Gill, local democracy reporter

A club in Newport has been ordered to close for two weeks after police reported several coronavirus regulations had been breached, including the supply of alcohol with several people leaving the venue “highly intoxicated”.

A Newport City Council report says a closure notice was handed to The Neon on Clarence Place by Newport City Council, after Gwent Police officers witnessed several breaches of the Welsh Government coronavirus regulations on Thursday, December 17.

It says: “Gwent Police witnessed 40-45 persons attend the premises, where the Covid Regulations clearly stipulate a maximum of 15 person should be attend at a wake.”

Under coronavirus regulations at the time, all licenced premises had to close at 6pm and were unable to serve alcohol.

However, the report says that police officers witnessed that “at 7.13pm members of the public started to disperse from the premises, but it was not until 7.25pm that customers had left the premises”.

It says that Gwent Police officers confirmed “that alcohol was being supplied within the premises and people leaving were heavily intoxicated”.

Inspection

Other breaches of the coronavirus regulations, according to the report, include customers not social distancing, with no management in place to stop people freely mixing in groups of more than four, and inaccurate track and trace information.

The closure notice is due to end on December 31, at which point the venue will be subject to another inspection where it will need to prove the relevant measures have been implemented.

However, Wales entered another lockdown on Saturday, which requires all licenced venues to close, except for takeaway orders. It is not yet clear when these rules will change.

More information and the closure order can be found here.