THE future of legendary Cleethorpes nightspot The Pier remains unclear after an appeal to lift its current 28-day licence suspension was declined.

North East Lincolnshire Council's Licensing Sub- Committee held a special meeting with representatives from Humberside Police and one of directors of The Pier yesterday.

As reported, the sub-committee suspended the venue's licence to serve alcohol on September 2 for 28 days.

This was a result of a number of incidents of crime and disorder, including the violent brawl which took place over the August bank holiday weekend, which resulted in two men leaping more than 20ft from Cleethorpes Pier – one breaking both his legs.

In total, three men were arrested in connection with the incident. One was released unconditionally, while the other two were later released on bail.

The Pier's management company had called for the meeting to be held to appeal against the decision to suspend its licence.

However, despite a spokesman for the nightclub revealing that a number of measures had been put into place to clamp down on underage drinking and violent disorder – which had been imposed following discussions with police – the sub-committee felt it could not lift the restriction.

Chairman of the sub-committee Councillor Cliff Barber said, after hearing evidence from both sides, he was not satisfied that enough had been done to justify reinstating The Pier's licence.

The final decision will now be taken at a full licence review meeting, which is due to be held on Tuesday, September 27.

Licensing officer Ken Stone agreed with the overall decision made in yesterday's meeting.

He said: "Due to the level of serious crime and disorder, and not just one incident, I agree with the decision to continue to suspend The Pier's licence until the full licensing review on September 27.

"I do not want this to deter the public away from going out to other bars and clubs around the area.

"I can assure people that North East Lincolnshire is a safe place to go out and that other premises do meet the licensing requirements."

Steve Calladine said: "We do not agree with the decision made to carry on with our license suspension.

"We are not the only venue that has problems occurring so we feel it is unfair for us to be singled out like this.

"We have shown we are willing to work with the police and have made changes already, such as adopt the challenge 25 policy, upgrade our CCTV systems, employ more door staff and even make changes to our main entrance.

"However, this obviously does not seem to be enough and we are very disappointed."

Keep checking your Grimsby Telegraph for further updates.