Police and residents fear the reopening of a Jewellery Quarter nightclub venue could see a return of disorder and gun crime which saw its predecessor closed down.
The Beorma club in Fleet Street was shut down just weeks after opening in 2016 after a gun was fired outside, witnessed by door staff.
Yet it was claimed the venue did not alert police and tried to hush up the shot as a ‘car backfiring’.
Johnson Crew gang member Fabian Williams, aged 29 and from Aston , was later jailed for 14 years for firing the gun.
The club was said to have been visited by members of both the Johnson Crew and Burger Bar Boys gangs.
Now the family who ran the Beorma bar want to relaunch the 200-capacity venue as the Soiree Lounge, claiming it will be a more exclusive and glamorous venue than the previous club.
Zafran Rashid who lost the licence last year has named his father Tariq Rashid as licensee and manager of the proposed new club.
But their licence application has sparked objections from West Midlands Police and the owner of the Islington Gates apartment block opposite.
Pc Abdool Rohoman, in a letter to the city council licensing committee, said: “Considering the history of these premises, the vague conditions being offered by the applicant and them not consenting to new worded conditions
West Midlands Police object to this application on the grounds of prevention of crime and disorder, public stafey and public nuisance.”
The Islington Gates Management Committee also say that the club - which has been opened for one-off events under a temporary licence - has failed to control their customers.
“There is no reason to believe that a 200 seater club re-styled as Soiree Lounge will not again attract criminal elements as evidenced when operated as Beorma Club by the Rashid family,” the committee state in a letter.
A resident has reported noise and nuisance from an event last month, including glass bottles smashed in the street, drinking in the road, cars revving and ‘no security staff in sight’.
Another claimed to have seen crowds congregating in Fleet Street, drinking from bottles, fighting, urinating in the street and abusing residents.
They also point out that the club has previously been refused planning permission and should only be allowed to operate as a restaurant.
But Zafaran Rashid previously told the Birmingham Mail the club will be a “commercial club experience - totally different to Beorma Club but still offering a glamorous clubbing experience.”
The licensing committee will decide the application on Tuesday.
UPDATE: The hearing has been adjourned to a future date.
