A FULHAM bar owner has been hit with a fine for breaching licensing conditions designed to avoid football violence breaking out on the borough streets.
Thugs from Chelsea and Cardiff City infamously brawled on the streets in February 2010 which led to one of the largest-ever police investigations into football hooligans.
As a result, Hammersmith and Fulham Council and the police clamped down on pubs and bars in the area to prevent a repeat – including La Reserve, in Fulham Road – a regular for Chelsea fans.
The bar was ordered to make sure alcohol was only served in plastic glasses and that security staff manned the doors on match days. It was also told to stop drinkers leaving the bar carrying bottles or glasses and to keep blinds closed on match days.
But routine inspections found the blinds open and supporters drinking from bottles when Stoke City visited in August 2010 and again ahead of a match with Wolverhampton Wanderers the following month.
Officers also found Russian supporters drinking outside and goading Chelsea fans before their Champions League clash with Spartak Moscow in November, 2010.
As a result, bar manager Hamid Jamal Nezam admitted seven licence breaches at West London Magistrates Court on February 28 and fined £1,750 and ordered to pay £3,170 in costs.
Councillor Greg Smith, council residents' services leader, said: “I am delighted that La Reserve has got its comeuppance for flouting the regulations on numerous occasions.
“All drinking establishments have a duty to ensure that alcohol is consumed responsibly and does not lead to anti-social behaviour.”
