Crime fears for Oxford Street private members’ club bid
Southampton City Council has received an application for a premises licence for the basement at 35 and 36 Oxford Street where applicant Demetrakis Hajiantoni wants to offer alcohol from midday until 1.30am every day and live music[1], performances and films from midday until 2am.
The site would be restricted to members and their guests, but non-members can attend privately booked functions. Only people aged 21 and above will be allowed to enter, the application said.
Members will only be able to sign in four guests on any given occasion. Their details will be stored for up to six months and they would only be allowed in six times a year.
Colin Beaven, who lives in Oxford Mews, submitted an objection to the application, saying that Oxford Street already faces problems with drunken clubgoers.
Mr Beaven said: “Evidence from the police shows that Oxford Street sees high levels of crime[3] and disorder, especially late at night, when a number of establishments seek to outdo each other in antisocial practices.
“The presence of late-night police patrols every weekend indicates that the situation threatens to get out of control and demonstrates that public safety is at risk. This is not just from disruptive behaviour or excessive alcohol consumption but also simply from volume and throughput, with an alarming quantity of establishments and patrons in such a concentrated area.
“Drivers park at random and obstruct access to garages, ignoring traffic restrictions and no entry signs, and taxis from long queues without the necessary space to do so, obstructing traffic in the process and dodging customers who spill onto roads from bars and pavements. It is all a fundamentally unsafe modus operandi, with overprovision that can border on the toxic.
“The council was right to make such proposals rebuttable through a stress area, and out of concerns about safety, public nuisance and the threat of crime and disorder, the proposal should not go forward.”
The application also detailed how the venue would train its staff, have sufficient CCTV cameras, have SIA door supervisors and a dispersal policy to ensure “minimal disturbance to neighbours and to tackle the problem of anti-social behaviour and crime”.
There would also be half-hourly toilet checks with a record kept for police.
The city council will consider the proposal on Tuesday (March 5) next week.