A new restaurant on the site of a former Leeds bar with a history of violence and stabbings has applied for a licence to sell alcohol. The old Shaftesbury Pool Club, on Harehills Lane in east Leeds, was described by one police officer as “one of the worst bars I’ve dealt with” at a licensing hearing on Tuesday.
Three stabbings occurred in the space of just three months at the premises in 2019, which led to it being shut down, though it had had brushes with the law on several previous occasions. The venue recently reopened as TK Restaurant. The two owners behind the business, who are taxi drivers by trade, say the new diner is serving the local Eritrean community.
But police and licensing officers have objected to its application to the city council for an alcohol licence, claiming the restaurant is a front for the owner of the old bar, Salman Haydaran, who they accuse of being responsible for its troubles. The restaurant’s owners say they’ve sub-let the premises from Mr Haydaran at a cost of £3,000 a month, but insist he will have no involvement in the running of the business.
Speaking at the hearing, however, PC Andy Clifford from West Yorkshire Police said: “This premises has seen some of the most serious and concerning incidents I’ve ever encountered. It seems strange to me that two people with zero experience working in a bar have suddenly appeared with a large sum of money to take over and run an historically challenging venue.
“It would logically seem to me that Salman has found two people with no history of licensing to be a front to get his bar up and running again.”
The premises reopened as Maddison Bar and Grill in 2020, just months after the Shaftesbury was shut down following the stabbings. However, it lost its alcohol licence last year, after the authorities claimed Mr Haydaran was running the business in breach of its conditions. At a hearing in April 2022, Mr Haydaran denied that claim, but those same proceedings were told he’d admitted it under police caution the previous year.
Speaking at Tuesday’s hearing, PC Clifford said: “It’s history repeating itself in my opinion. He’s just trying it again. It’s been one of the worst bars that I’ve dealt with.
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“Any condition that’s ever been agreed in the past has just been flat out ignored. History tells us Salman will still be involved. He’s the one pulling the strings. That’s my opinion.”
The restaurant’s owners, Hagos Ghebrehiwet and Teklit Tesfay, both appeared at the hearing to give evidence. Their solicitor, Duncan Craig said: “There’s a significant history of violence associated with his premises and so I fully understand why responsible authorities and local businesses have made representations. They obviously have concerns.”
Mr Craig told a panel of three councillors that he did not dispute the police’s claim that Mr Haydaran had been involved in Maddison Bar and Grill. But he insisted that was not the case with the new restaurant.
He added: “There’s an element here where we’re asking you to take a leap of faith in these two individuals. What I’d say is this is an entirely different operation to what’s been here before. They’re committed to this business and it’s down to whether you want to give them a chance or not.”
A decision on whether or not the licence has been granted will be confirmed by the council in the coming days.
