A KEY meeting will decide if a Christchurch bar will be allowed to keep its licence - as police say rules are 'wantonly disregarded'.

A licensing sub-committee meeting on Tuesday at Christchurch Borough Council will see members decide if Camerons in Bargates will stay open, despite a catalogue of allegations and concerns raised by Dorset Police.

The force remain adamant the bar's licence should be revoked, saying a series of incidents show "an active promotion of violence on the part of staff and security".

And the review application states the former designated premises supervisor Poria Abraham "consistently fails" to uphold licensing objectives.

The report by force licensing officer Louise Busfield details a series of alleged incidents at Camerons including an assault case in which someone is reported to have had their head split open, a claim that a member of bar staff spiked someone’s drink and an alleged assault outside the premises.

During the processing of this application, the council said they received a request from Jalal Hajabrahim to transfer the premises licence into his name and change the name of the Designated Premises Supervisor (DPS) after his son, Poria, is understood to have resigned.

The council have transferred the premises licence. An update will be given on Tuesday over changes to the DPS. CCTV footage will also be shown to those involved ahead of the meeting, but to the exclusion of public and press.

Since the changeover, two further incidents have taken place, with Ms Busfield's statement adding: "The DPS and his staff have consistently and wantonly displayed a total disregard of the premises licence, its attached conditions and licensing objectives."

A further statement from Sergeant Gareth Gosling, alcohol licensing sergeant, said that while Christchurch is one of the quieter areas for night time policing, of 75 incidents since January 1, 20 of them are directly linked to Camerons bar.

The remaining incidents are distributed between 30 other premises.

He adds: "There are a number of unreported incidents identified as being linked to Camerons that have not been included in this figure.

"The premises with the second highest number of incidents over the same period has a total of seven reported incidents over the same period.

"Dorset Police do not consider that any modification of the premises licence, including the imposing of additional conditions to those already imposed, would adequately resolve the concerns that we have over Camerons bar."

Sixteen customers and staff have written to the authority, urging them to keep the bar open.

One, Aaron Clark, said: "It would be a travesty if the licence was revoked on such a wonderful place and it would leave a big void in the Christchurch community."

Another from Samantha Greenhill said: "On a personal level I cannot speak highly enough about Poria, he is a very kind soul with an ever bigger heart who is just like us all and is striving to make a better future for his family."

And Ian Davis, president of Mudeford Men's Club, said: "What Poria has done to Camerons I feel that any town would be envious and I feel Christchurch should be proud to have such an establishment in their town and he should be rewarded of that."