War hero has plans to open nightclub dashed, but hasn’t given up on dream

Ted Peskett, local democracy reporter

A war hero who earned the UK’s second highest bravery medal by single handedly fighting off dozens of insurgents had his hopes of opening a nightclub dashed, but hopes he can open a restaurant instead.

It is just over 14 years since the day Dip Prasad Pun saved three of his comrades whilst guarding a compound in Hellmand Province, Afghanistan, on his own, but he remembers it clearly.

At the time, he was a soldier in the 1st Battalion Royal Gurkha Rifles.

Insurgents

Dip’s sentry duty was during the night at a checkpoint near Babaji when he suddenly became surrounded by what he believed to be 30 enemy insurgents.

His suspicion that something wasn’t right started when he heard a digging sound – a sound that could have been mistaken for an animal, like a cow or donkey, he said.

He moved to a new position to get closer and inspect the sound and soon heard dogs barking everywhere.

He was sure that the two figures approaching the compound were enemies attempting to take him by surprise and he opened fire.

Enemy fire

However, after he started firing it wasn’t long before he heard enemy fire from other positions around the compound.

“They were shooting at me from 360 degrees,” said Dip.

“There is no chance to think about anything. Just fight. When they [people] feel ‘I am not safe’, they will want to fight with anything.

“I didn’t want to be a prisoner of war.”

Dip, who has served 22 years in the army, said he thought he was going to die that night.

The firefight continued for about 30 minutes, according to the former soldier, and by the end he barely had any ammunition left.

Lacking enough bullets to keep shooting, he had to use the tripod of one of his weapons to continue defending himself.

Dip added: “I just had four bullets left at the end. All of my ammunition had expended.”

He said there were still insurgents in the area at this point, but a mine placed nearby about a month before that night finally cleared the area of any threat.

Afterwards, other troops came in to relive him of his duties and drag him to safety.

Dip said: “By that time, I didn’t have any energy to walk. I couldn’t even walk.

“I had used 200% energy to fight them.”

Pride of Britain Awards

As well as receiving the Conspicuous Gallantry Cross, Dip received recognition at the Pride of Britain Awards in 2011.

Much of his military career was spent in south Wales, where he served from about 2004 to 2007 and again from 2013 to 2016.

Dip first bought a house in Cardiff in 2016 and moved back to the city when he retired from the military in 2022.

His recent attempt at opening a restaurant and nightclub in Cardiff has already set him back about £22,000, but the disappointment of the city council’s refusal has not deterred him.

At the time, the police and the local authority’s own pollution control team argued that the premises Dip wanted to open was located in what is referred to as a cumulative impact assessment red zone.

Crime and disorder

This means that the area has a high level of crime and disorder and plans for bars and nightclubs, of which there is already a high concentration, are looked at with more scrutiny.

Applicants wanting to open a bar or nightclub have to demonstrate that their plans are exceptional and that their premises can go beyond being simply well managed and fully compliant with licensing conditions.

Dip said at the Cardiff Council licensing sub committee meeting last week that he wanted a restaurant that turned into a bar with recorded music and live music in the evening.

However, the council concluded that his plans did not represent an exceptional application. Dip’s focus now is the restaurant, but he is not giving up on his vision to eventually open a nightclub somewhere in the city.

“[It was an] experience, but a very costly experience,” he said of the process he’d gone through so far.

Speaking about his revised vision for the restaurant, he said: “There will be just recorded music at a very low level in the background and occasionally I would like to have live music.”

There is currently no Nepalese restaurant in Cardiff, but Dip is hoping that this is something that will change sometime in the near future.