Venue loses its licence following teenagers' deaths

LOSS: Dylan Booth

A CITY centre venue looks set to close almost two years on from the death of a Chelmsley Wood teenager, who had taken ecstasy at the nightspot.
Dylan Booth, aged 18, had taken the Class A drug during an evening out at the Rainbow club, in Digbeth, where he was celebrating the start of 2016. Following the New Year's festivities he fell ill and was rushed to hospital, where he died a few days later.
On October 30 of this year, another young man - 19-year-old Michael Trueman - had also died after reportedly taking MDMA at the club.
Following the second tragedy, Birmingham City Council's licensing sub-committee yesterday (Tuesday) took the decision to revoke Rainbow Venues' licence.
In its decision notice, the council said: "All in all the sub-committee lacked confidence that personnel at the premises would be able to uphold the licensing objectives, no matter how tightly conditioned.
"There was a clear risk of further crime and disorder, and a risk to public safety, particularly in relation to drugs."
Rainbow Venues has said it intends to appeal against this week's decision.
"We firmly believe that our team took great care, time and passion to create a safe environment for people to enjoy our events," said a statement released today.
"We had very robust policies that West Midlands Police have accepted are more stringent than any other licensed premises in the country.
"As operators we can’t be false. The decision is wrong. We can’t pretend we agree, we can’t promise that drugs will not enter licensed premises; people go to extreme lengths to get drugs into venues, if they succeed over the border, prisons and even Parliament, then they will find a way into a club. They are breaking the law. Are we?"