Trisha’s bar in Soho allowed to stay open but licence suspended after council review

By Adrian Zorzut, Local Democracy Reporter

A Soho bar that has welcomed stars like Anthony Bourdain, Amy Winehouse and Led Zeppelin has been able to remain open but with a suspended licence.

Trisha’s, popular basement bar at 57 Greek Street will have its licence suspended for 14 days with immediate effect. It had faced losing its licence following a spate of breaches.

Westminster City council inspectors served the club with a notice to review their licence last month, citing lax fire safety standards, overcrowding and the serving of alcohol after the cut-off time. They also claimed Trisha was drunk at work during one visit.

Trisha admitted that she would have an “occasional” glass of wine but is never intoxicated at work.

Instead, she claims the officer mistook her Parkinson’s Disease for her being drunk.

In a surprise ruling Westminster City councillors pushed back on licensing inspectors and the Met who wanted the club’s licence revoked.

Councillor Iman Less said: “The sub-committee, based on the evidence, did not consider it appropriate or proportionate to revoke the licence and considered all relevant parts of [key legislation]”

“Instead, it has decided to take the following action: that the premises licence is suspended with immediate effect for a period of 14 days as a deterrent.

“The sub-committee considers this is an appropriate time for the licence holder to work together with the licensing authority to renew measures that are fully implemented and remain in place.”

Cllr Less, who chaired Thursday’s licensing meeting, stripped Patricia “Trish” Bergonzi, the club’s owner, of her role as Designated Premises Supervisor but stopped short of banning her and her son Danni from the day-to-day management of the venue.

Cllr Less added: “It was apparent to the licensing committee that the licence holder was struggling to run and manage the licence in a responsible way that would help promote the licensing objectives.

“The sub-committee knows it and was sympathetic to the fact the premises licence holder had suffered a family loss in recent years, however, the role of a responsible licence holder is to ensure the premises is properly run.

“The sub-committee took the view that the premises should have obtained the relevant professional help to overcome the difficulty the licence holder expressed.”

The club was told it had to hire qualified bouncers and reduce the number of people management can allow in each night to 10 if it wanted to stay open.

Trisha’s lawyers said the Soho venue had already hired qualified security guards to work every night and installed new CCTV and an ID scanning system.

The council heard how its own inspectors and the Met officers lost faith in Trisha’s to clean up its act after being caught repeatedly breaching the conditions of its own licence over a three-month period earlier this year.

Lawyers representing the Met claimed the club’s operation had been ‘shambolic’ and urged the council to revoke or suspend Trisha’s licence.

The legal team representing Trisha’s acknowledged the venue’s failings and agreed it had been ‘too slow’ to act. They claimed a number of changes had been since officers visited the club in April.

The club’s management apologised for the breaches and said it had been distracted by the death of a close family members.

Pictured top: Patricia ‘Trish’ Bergonzi inside Trisha’s (Picture: Adrian Zorzut)