A bar owner will soon discover what action he may face after serious health and safety issues were found during an environmental health inspection of his premises.

A private hearing of Rutland County Council's licensing committee took place on Wednesday (October 2) about Jinky's in Melton Road, Oakham.

The councillors voted to hear the request made for a licence review in private, due to 'sensitive information' that would be discussed.

John Woods, 67, and his daughter, Natasha, who recently took over the licence were both at the hearing held at Catmose House. Mr Woods has run the venue since 2008 and will find out in five days via letter what action, if any, will be imposed on him by the licensing committee.

A summary of the concerns raised by raised by environmental health officer Trevor Darnes after visiting the bar in August, are:

• A number of serious health and safety non-compliances including electrical defects, risk of carbon monoxide build up, tripping hazards and poor lighting in the beer garden 
• Lack of supervision of children within the premises, including behind the bar area

The environmental officer has requested that conditions are placed on the licence including that colour CCTV is in operation whenever the bar is open and recordings are kept for four weeks, that the licence holder keeps an incident log, that staff are trained to recognise signs of drunkenness, and a fire risk assessment is carried out. He also wants a condition imposed that no children can go into the bar after 9pm.

The licensing committee, which was chaired by Cllr Andrew Brown (Ind – Lyddington), will make Mr Woods and his daughter aware next week of the actions they must take.