Coronet licence restricted after stabbing and ‘gun’ incident

Police were called to The Coronet in New Kent Road at about 2.30am on Sunday 8 November to reports of a fight involving 15 people during the 'House of Silk' event.

One man was stabbed in the leg during the incident, a 'noxious substance' such as pepper spray or CS gas is said to have been discharged, and security staff report seeing a man threatening others with a hand gun.

Just after 4am Southwark Police declared a 'critical incident' and called in 18 police units from outside the borough.

One police officer describes 'pockets of minor volatility' around New Kent Road and Elephant Road as the crowd of around 2,000 people attending the event was dispersed.

Southwark Police licensing officer PC Ian Clements applied to the council for a review of the premises licence. In his application, he wrote: "It is clear from initial reports that there has been a significant failure in security procedures at this venue."

The police asked the council to suspend The Coronet's licence pending a full hearing but a Southwark licensing sub-committee meeting on Thursday decided that would be an over-reaction.

Instead, councillors opted to ban the venue from hosting "urban/house music" events and imposed extra conditions on the licence including the use of search arches at all events.

The Breakin Science night – which was due to take place at the Coronet this weekend – was instead held in railway arches at Great Suffolk Street.

The Coronet recently announced that it is to close down in early 2017 with the building facing demolition as part of the wider redevelopment of Elephant & Castle Shopping Centre.

A full hearing to review the venue's licence is due to be held on Tuesday 2 December.

• We invited The Coronet's owners to comment on the incident but no response had been received by the time of publication.