The police and licence holder engaged throughout the interim period. The result was a set of additional robust conditions agreed by the parties for the consideration of the licensing sub-committee.. The conditions addressed three serious issues identified by the police. Firstly, lax procedures on the admission of members and guests and the recording of who was in their premises. Secondly, insufficient welfare training and procedures that required improvement. Thirdly, the inadequacy of the supervision of the toilet areas.

The police indicated that there were other serious matters to be addressed in private session so as not to prejudice live criminal proceedings. The power to hear some or all of the hearing in private (closed) session arises out of regulation 14 of the Licensing Act 2003 (Hearings) Regulations 2005. Whilst the default position is that hearings must be held in public, the licensing authority can exclude some or all of the public from a hearing “where it considers that the public interest in so doing outweighs the public interest in the hearing, or that part of the hearing, taking place in public”.

Members of the press made oral representations that all of the hearing should be held in public given the high-profile nature of the case which had been widely reported in the media. The parties jointly submitted that “the interest of the public” is not necessarily the same as “the public interest” and the preservation of the integrity of the criminal process overrode the submissions of the media representatives. The police proposed, and the sub-committee agreed to, a “hybrid” hearing, where all matters that could properly be aired in public were heard in public. But those matters of a sensitive nature whose disclosure may impact on the fairness of ongoing criminal proceedings should be in private.

The licensing sub-committees agreed with the proposed conditions and the interim suspension was lifted to reflect  the final set of agreed conditions meaning that the Groucho Club is permitted to re-open for licensing activities so long as it complies with all the conditions on its premises licence.

The review hearing has been widely reported in the media (for example):

BBC News

Daily Mail

Financial Times

Telegraph

Guardian

Evening Standard

Gary Grant acted for the Metropolitan Police throughout these licence review proceedings instructed by Tracy Wisbey of the Metropolitan Police’s Department of Legal Services.