While the general manager of the venue, Josh Westaway, accepted that security on Orchard Road (where Orchard Street and Orchard Avenue meet) had been "sporadic" in the past six months, he claimed this issue had been sorted. Read more: Bristol's O2 Academy faces losing its licence as it is hauled before council for review 2 This was not enough to persuade the committee, which has ordered the venue to undertake a risk assessment to see if a member of security staff needs to be permanently based on the corner of Orchard Street and Orchard Road during the Friday evening Ramshackle Club night. Mrs Elliott-Tredinnick said: "There are frequent incidents of urination and defecation.
We have had people having sex on our cars in the road. "People will come outside our house and our neighbours house and decant what looks like class A drugs in to smaller packages to take in to the Academy, and it is just not acceptable anymore." Speaking to the Bristol Post outside the hearing, Mrs Elliott-Tredinnick said: "It happens all the time, people have sex on cars, around cars, in doorways. "I mean you can shout at them but they take no notice. "We've even seen people doing cocaine off of parking meters. "It is horrible and vile." According to police records there have been 30 incidents around the O2 Academy in the past six months. Local police support team inspector, Martin Rowland, told the committee that "the majority" were related to the O2 Academy, but some were likely due to people visiting other venues in the area. Read more: Miracle chicken enjoys new life after escaping jaws of a fox in bizarre incident on Bristol street 3 Solicitor, Phil Crier, who was representing the O2 Academy, said that the venue was "taken by surprise" by the review.
He also praised the venue for being well managed. He said that the venue has a zero tolerance policy on drugs and underage drinking and refutes any claims surrounding the issues. He conceded that the site had an issue with poor security management by an external company over the summer, but claims that a new manager has been in place for the past month.
Mr Crier also added that it was unfair to say that all antisocial issues were caused by the O2 Academy when there are so many other clubs and pubs in the area. He said: "You can't attribute all the ills of the area to one particular venue." Mr Crier asked the committee to make it a voluntary agreement for the venue to post a member of security on Orchard Road on the condition that the O2 Academy would continue to honour this agreement each Friday during its opening hours. The committee dismissed Mr Crier's request that the O2 Academy continues to have an informal agreement around posting a member of security on the corner of Orchard Road and Orchard Street.
Read more: Bizarre footage of candlelit rituals in Weston Woods has been captured 4 Instead it ordered that a risk assessment be undertaken and, if it is deemed that a security presence is necessary, then the requirement will be written in to the licence agreement of the venue.
Academy Music Group Limited, the company which own the Academy chain, has not responded to the Bristol Post's request for a comment.
References ^ Comments (13) (www.bristolpost.co.uk) ^ Bristol's O2 Academy faces losing its licence as it is hauled before council for review (www.bristolpost.co.uk) ^ Miracle chicken enjoys new life after escaping jaws of a fox in bizarre incident on Bristol street (www.bristolpost.co.uk) ^ Bizarre footage of candlelit rituals in Weston Woods has been captured (www.bristolpost.co.uk)