New owners help Vestry avoid losing licence

Police had described The Vestry, in Southgate, as the second most troublesome venue between Hampshire and Hove at a licensing review last August.

But after managerial changes, and several months of monitoring by Sussex Police, Chichester District Council’s licensing sub-committee felt the bar had made significant progress.

The committee reconvened the bar’s licence review last Wednesday and accepted a minor variation application , detailing a range of stringent conditions discussed with police.

Praising the actions of new licence holder Nick Marshall, chairman Peter Budge said: “We have decided that because of the actions that have been taken by the new owner that there should be no more problems with his licence.

“We as a committee do feel that the change Mr Marshall has brought to the Vestry has been enormous and has made a great deal of difference.”