Birmingham nightclub set to lose licence after second death in two years

A Birmingham nightclub faces closure after the second death at its premises in less than two years.

A meeting of Birmingham’s licensing sub-committee is today (Friday) expected to support recommendations from the police that The Rainbow’s licence be suspended.

The move follows the death at the Digbeth club in October of a 19-year-old Birmingham City University student.

His death came just 22 months after a similar fatality as a result of drug-taking at the venue.

In a statement to the sub-committee, West Midlands Police said: “The level and seriousness of the incident in terms of the crimes committed warrant the use of this power. A 19-year-old male has died as a result of consuming an illegal substance at this venue.”

Police said due to the seriousness of the incident, normal licensing procedures were insufficient to deal with the scale of the breach, especially as the venue had been investigated before.

“The concern of West Midlands Police is that if immediate steps are not taken to consider the running that similar incidents could happen with the same potential outcome,” it added.

The club has argued against the suspension claiming that drug use would only shift to other venues less equipped to deal with the problem as they did not have such stringent conditions attached to their licences.

However, this was deemed “wholly unpersuasive” given that the conditions already imposed at The Rainbow had not prevented a fatality.

The minutes of an emergency licensing sub-committee held on November 2 to discuss the temporary suspension of the club’s licence, state: “The sub-committee was surprised that those at The Rainbow felt themselves to be in a position to pass comment about other premises’ competence.”

A report by Birmingham Public Health into the incident said that at approximately 11.20pm on October 29, the 19-year-old had been found inside the club and appeared to be under the influence of a controlled substance. The teenager had a high temperature, was sweating profusely, unsettled, had laboured breathing and was slightly confused.

He told medical staff he had taken a blue pill of some kind.

He was taken to hospital but died the following day as a result of organ failure.

Subsequent investigations revealed that the teenager had taken a large quantity of MDMA – methylenedioxy-methamphetamine – Ecstasy.

“It is apparent to West Midlands Police that controlled substances have been taken into the premises. From the male’s friends and from the medical report from the premises it is sensible to conclude that the deceased male had not consumed controlled substances before and so it is unlikely that he would have taken them into the premises himself,” adds the BPH report.

In January 2016, the club was the focus of a similar incident when a reveller died after consuming illegal substances in the premises.

On that occasion, stringent conditions were imposed on the licence by the council to ensure that drugs would not be able to get into the premises.

Having worked to get a stringent set of conditions imposed, the police said it was concerned that a subsequent death had occurred.

“West Midlands Police are seeking the immediate suspension of the premise licence for this venue,” it adds.

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