A pub with a chequered past has been put up for sale. The Queens Head in Kimberley had its licence revoked due to repeated breaches of the Covid rules at the height of the pandemic and public disorder.
Applications for a new licence allowing it to reopen were rejected. The pub, in Main Street, was closed down in September 2020. Despite warnings the owners failed to enforce NHS track and trace paperwork and ensure customers were social distancing.
A temporary banning order was served after failing to follow the strict Covid rules and, in November 2020, the licence to operate was revoked. Nottinghamshire Police told a licensing panel how it had dealt with previous crime and disorder incidents at the pub.
Read more: Fresh start for 'troubled' Nottinghamshire pub
Two police officers were assaulted while they dealt with an offender and in a separate incident a man suffered a fractured cheek and eye socket in an assault in the beer garden. At the time the force said further reports were also investigated, including the throwing of bottles and glasses which were used as weapons by customers involved in a large fight outside the pub. Police said there had also been reports of underage drinking.
As a result, the pub was closed. The rejection of the premises licence meant it could not open as a pub or sell alcohol. A further licence application made in June 2022 by Mei Mei Huang was also thrown out despite pledges of staff training and a door supervisor being hired.
Ms Huang added plastic glasses would be used from 9pm to closing time on Friday and Saturday nights and a CCTV system was installed. However after failing to obtain a licence, the owners have had a change of heart about running a pub and have put it up for sale by auction with a guide price of £650,000. It includes the freehold and the property's six bedrooms and a courtyard.
Jared Evason, branch manager at estate agents William H. Brown in Kimberley, said: "The pub isn't open as it hasn't got a licence. I think people are looking at development opportunities subject to planning, mainly as flats.
"It's quite an historic building in the area and there is plenty of development opportunity. It was quite a nice vibrant pub in the town." The pub had been vacant for four years when it was taken over in 2018 and reopened with an all-you-can-eat Chinese buffet.
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