Bexhill bar takes steps to respond to police concerns

Councillors have retired to consider what to do about the licence of a Bexhill bar, which police say has been plagued with “disorder, assaults and ongoing drug use”.

On Friday (November 13), a panel of Rother District councillors met to consider an application from Sussex Police to review the licence of The Devonshire Bar and Lounge in Devonshire Square.

Sussex Police had been calling for earlier closing hours for the bar, as well as a forced temporary closure and the removal of the Designated Premises Supervisor (DPS) Mr Sokol Kapllani.

But as the hearing began, councillors heard that Sussex Police and the Premises Licence Holder Gino Forte had come to an agreement on an alternative way forward, following a voluntary closure and the removal of Mr Kapllani as leaseholder.

Peter Savill, a lawyer acting for the force, said: “As the point has been made already, the DPS has gone, so you don’t have to remove him.

“He is, so far as the police are concerned, the real lightning rod in this case. He is the catalyst for the problems that have been experienced in the premises.

“His lease of the premises has been forfeited so there is no prospect of him coming back to the premises. That is an important material development.”