A TROUBLED popular Fulham nightclub has seen its opening hours cut after a police crackdown.
Mare Moto, in Kings Road, has been under the spotlight after repeated complaints about noise, anti-social behaviour and unlicensed bouncers working on the door.
Investigations into Maremoto began in July 2009 after it was issued with warnings by environmental health officers after noise complaints.
They continued to pour in with Mr Ferrara hauled before licensing bosses at the town hall a year later to try and solve their on-going concerns.
But police patience finally ran out after a raid in November last year found the popular bar dangerously over-crowded and suspected fake vodka being sold and drugs openly being smoked.
PS Stuart Ratcliffe, borough licensing officer, said: “It was clear to me that security had no control over the premises.
“I had serious concerns regarding public safety at the premises and the lack of leadership and control over the running of the premises.”
PC Chris Everett said: “When I reached the bar I noticed that there were three members of staff serving customers. We conducted tests on a number of bottles of spirits.
“We identified one bottle of Smirnoff Vodka where the reading given by the test strips indicated it was not genuine Smirnoff.
“As we reached ground level I saw a white male and a female, the male was smoking a hand-rolled cigarette and from my experience as a police officer I recognised the smell coming from the cigarette to be cannabis.”
Martin O'Brien, trading standards officer, said: “We witnessed staff serve wine and vodka without measuring the amount dispensed.”
This raid led to an application to clampdown on the licence to restrict the sale of alcohol until 11pm on Friday and Saturday as opposed to 2am.
But Hammersmith and Fulham's licensing committee decided to reduce that condition to 12.30am while reducing the time it can play live or recorded music from 2am to 1am.
The licence holder, Luigi Ferrara, was sacked and the club ordered to not allow any new guests into the venue after midnight.
MARE MOTO TIMELINE
June 2009: Warned by environmental health officers about noise.
Nov 2009: Final warning letter issued after continued breaches.
July 2010: Mr Ferrara attends town hall meeting.
Jan 2011: Police find unlicensed bouncer working on the door.
Feb/Apr 2011: Licensing officers respond to complaints about over-crowding.
Nov 2011: Club raided by police as part of operation found multiple licence breaches including sale of fake vodka, over-crowding. CCTV also found to be ineffective with water damage from a jacuzzi blamed.
