A PUB that created a “climate of fear” has been closed for three months after magistrates ruled it was associated with drugs and violent crime.

Deacons in Boscombe will not reopen until March 15 after police argued a man previously convicted of drug dealing and robbery, effectively took control.

Bournemouth magistrates were told he and several associates used it for gang-style crime – one was a former Loyalist terrorist convicted of murder.

Another associate’s convictions include kidnap, carrying a firearm, affray, actual bodily harm, burglary, threats to kill, and possessing controlled drugs. None of these men can currently be named due to ongoing court proceedings.

Philip Day, defending, argued the men had only minimal connections to the pub, and that traces of drugs found were consistent with personal use.

But chairman of the bench Geoffrey Lonsdale said magistrates upheld the closure, ruled there was compelling evidence Deacon’s had created a climate of fear, and that the owners did not have proper control.

Police found numerous apparently shoplifted goods, counterfeit DVDs, bags containing traces of cocaine, and a set of scales in a search of Deacons on October 26.

The magistrates have heard allegations of several assaults at or near the pub including by staff, and that a gun found at another location had been linked to Deacons.

A statement from PCSO Jane Wilson said residents were too scared to complain about Deacons because “everyone was afraid of the possible repercussions on the staff and customers”.

A company called GMB UK LTD is currently buying the pub’s lease from Mr Jimmy Lambrianou in payments of £2,000 a week over 50 weeks.

A director Christopher Mepham, 26, of Strouden, who has no convictions, is the newly-appointed licensee, and said he had invested in refurbishing the property and was marketing it to new customers.

Another director, John Beckett, 25, from Moordown, is a convicted drug dealer and a former workmate of Mr Mepham at Zenith Windows in Lansdowne Road.

Bournemouth East head of uniform policing Inspector Ashley Adams said after the case: “That pub was being used for criminal activity and drug abuse.

“Boscombe Police and Bournemouth Borough Council are not going to put up with villains and their weak-minded lackeys operating in our area.”