Spearmint Rhino in Bournemouth gets licence renewal - but for six month probationary period

Spearmint Rhino’s licence for its venue on Yelverton Road went before Bournemouth council’s licensing board on Tuesday night after the council received 15 objections to its application for a renewal.

Cllr David Smith, ward councillor for the town centre, produced three witnesses he claimed had been “exploited”.

Read our minute by minute coverage of the meeting as it happened

The first, Mrs A, told the board her brother had spent more than £6,000 at the venue in just one evening in 2011.

“He wears a hearing aid, has trouble with literacy and relies on the goodwill of others not to take advantage,” she told the meeting.

The man himself proceeded to tell the board that dancers on the night in question had “kept tempting” him and he had no idea he was mounting up such high costs.

“They were taking advantage of me and I didn’t know,” he claimed. “I was buying them lots of drinks and they took it in turns to dance with me. I didn’t have anything to drink – I have liver problems so never drink.”

Philip Kolvin QC, representing Spearmint Rhino, said the club “hotly contested” allegations of exploitation and that as the man had not wanted to reveal his identity, there was a “real problem” answering them.

Two other witnesses, also unnamed, told similar stories alleging high value transactions on their debit cards which they had not authorised.

Vice president of Spearmint Rhino UK John Specht said each transaction was watched by a CCTV camera and required a thumb print, signature and PIN number.

“The bank will call for evidence such as CCTV. We always fully co-operate,” added Mr Specht.

“Banks have made no findings against us.”

The board’s chair, Cllr Andrew Morgan, granted a six-month licence on a probationary period subject to conditions agreed with police.

He criticised the club for being “woeful” in losing some CCTV footage, adding: “If you do not get it right next time, you will not get the result you want.”