Rugeley pub has more bouncers than boozers

Feb 12 2012 by Mike Lockley, Sunday Mercury

IT is the only pub in Britain where there’s at least one bouncer for every drinker.

And bosses are bitter that they’ve been forced to provide at least two bouncers early doors on Thursday night – at a cost of £14 per man, per hour – during a period when the average number of customers is TWO.

At least one bouncer is needed at 9pm, when the pub is often empty. By 10pm, there must be two doormen and, on weekends, four have to stand guard over the sparse crowd at The Shrew, Rugeley, the local licensing committee has ruled.

It is one of a number of measures imposed following council and police concerns about trouble at the watering hole.

The management has also had to shave half-an-hour from the traditional 3pm ‘last orders’ on Thursday, Friday and Saturday. They’ve also forked out £4,000 on a CCTV security system.

Last night the pub’s leaseholder, Gavin Houston, accused the police of ‘borderline harassment’ in their techniques.

The 31-year-old admitted there have been close to 50 incidents recorded against his pub, but claim many do not stand up to scrutiny.

They include, says Mr Houston, a woman who lost her handbag, which she later found. There was a drunk found in the town graveyard, who admitted he had visited The Shrew hours before. There was a trouble-maker, barred entry from the pub, who walked away and clashed with the police.

Then there was the time management breached a rule preventing new customers from entering the premises after 1.30am by 60 seconds. Officers clocked someone walking through the doors at 1.31am, but bosses insist the time on the pub’s CCTV was 1.29am.

The pub even got a black mark because one lout told police he was on his way to The Shrew, it has been claimed.

Mr Houston is particularly aggrieved about the night that door staff discovered people with drugs in the pub and handed them over to the police.

“The incident was recorded as ‘drugs found at The Shrew’ and constituted another strike against us,” he says. “No mention that we found the drugs, and that we approached the police.

“The attention we get compared to other pubs is on the border of harassment,” complained Mr Houston. “But if this place gets closed down it won’t do the town any good at all.”

He believes officers want the pub shut at 2am simply because the thin blue line won’t stretch to patrolling the town centre in the wee hours. The pub can still serve until midnight during the week.