A 'hostile' man slashed the bouncer's check with a knife before fleeing a fight at Bernard Manning's Embassy Club last week, according to a council report. The incident at the pub off Rochdale Road in Harpurhey is reported to have taken place on Friday (March 11).
It left another man with cuts to his hand. Manchester council has been asked to suspend the premises' licence pending a full review, raising concerns that the pub is associated with serious crime.
But landlady Deborah Siddall said 'nothing like this' has happened before at the 'world famous' club once owned by the late comedian Bernard Manning. She said: "We've not had any incident like this before. It was just unfortunate.
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"We didn't even know the fella. He wasn't one of the regulars."
According to a police statement submitted to Manchester council ahead of a licensing hearing tomorrow (March 18), GMP received a 999 call at 10.43pm stating that someone had been cut by a man with a knife at the Embassy Club. But the statement submitted by PC Alan Isherwood on behalf of GMP on Wednesday (March 16) says 'enquiries to trace the offenders' are ongoing.
After speaking to people who were present, police established that at around 10pm, two 'hostile' men were refused entry after they approached door staff and threatened that they would 'drag them into the road and knock them out'. However, according to the police statement, the site manager instructed the door staff to let them in – something which landlady Deborah Siddall denies.
She said: "They were refused entry and then one of them pushed past my son who was working at the time. My son was telling them he wasn't allowed in. My son was speaking to the bouncers and said they're too loud and boisterous. But as my son was saying that, they pushed past and went to the beer garden. It all happened in a matter of minutes."
According to the police statement, the two men went into the premises, but were being loud and were bothering other customers before going outside. The statement said: "The door supervisor observed one of the males having an argument with a brunette-haired girl.
"The male started to chase the girl around before the door supervisor intervened and told the male to stop, and an argument then ensued. Meanwhile, the second male got into a fight with an unknown victim close by.
"During this fight, the unknown male suffered bruising and swelling to his right cheek. Whilst the door supervisor was having an argument with the first male, the fighting stopped, and the second male approached the door supervisor and the first male.
"When he got there, he asked the first male for the knife. The door supervisor was immediately concerned and backed away and proceeded to get all the other customers inside the premises as he was concerned someone was going to get injured.
"As he was doing this, the first male pulled the knife from his waistband and cut the door supervisor across his cheek and then proceeded to cut another male across his hands. The door supervisor proceeded to get the customers into the building.
"Whilst he was doing this, the second male punched him to the left-hand side of his head from behind. He managed to get everyone inside the building and locked the two offenders out.
"The two males then made off in a vehicle and to date have not been identified."
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As of Wednesday (March 17), enquiries to trace the offenders were ongoing. PC Isherwood added: "It is extremely concerning that the offenders were allowed access to the premises after initially being refused entry by door staff and it is even more concerning to learn that one of them was carrying a knife which he then used to slash 2 victims."
The pub is understood to have been open as usual since the incident occurred, but GMP has requested that the licensing authority now considers suspending the pub's premises licence until a full review is heard before the committee. A summary review hearing will take place online on Friday (March 17).
Anyone with information should contact police via gmp.police.uk quoting 3244 11/03/22. Information can be shared anonymously via the independent charity Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.
