Falkirk pub warned after failing to put stewards on its doors for Old Firm game

A Falkirk pub broke its conditions for screening Old Firm games by not having professional stewards on the door, a police spot check found.
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The Star Inn, Grahams Road, Falkirk, has had strict conditions attached to its licence after an incident in 2016, during a Celtic-Rangers match, when customers spilled out of the pub onto the street, causing mayhem.

Since then, televised Old Firm games must be ticketed – with a maximum of 100 people attending – and professional stewards must be on every door, checking tickets and making sure no-one who is too drunk attempts to get in.

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Sergeant Liam Livingstone told members that on February 2, police officers did spot checks on several pubs which were likely to be showing the derby.

Star Inn.Star Inn.
Star Inn.
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At the Star Inn, they noticed that the match was being shown to about 70 patrons, but stewards were not on the door.

They were told that the stewards were running late but were unable to return to check whether they arrived or not.

This led to the Chief Constable seeking a premises licence review which was heard at Falkirk Council’s licensing board on Wednesday.

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Sgt Livingstone said that he had spoken to the pub’s manager, Victoria Redding, and she had been “open and honest about the situation”.

Ms Redding told members of the board that the company she uses regularly could not provide cover due to staff being off with Covid.

And although she made arrangements with another company, when she arrived, there was no sign of their door staff.

She was assured that they would be there but they did not appear, despite several phone calls.

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She said: “We did have tickets and although the door stewards didn’t show up my partner was on the door checking tickets.

“Every other condition was followed by the book.”

“After the game we shut the premises early so there was no hassle - and thankfully there wasn’t any.”

The board issued a written warning but they also agreed that Ms Redding had not acted in a way that was inconsistent with licensing objectives and a personal licence review was not necessary.