Liverpool city centre gay bar G-Bar faces being stripped of its premises licence after three people were stabbed outside the venue last weekend. Merseyside Police has confirmed three men were arrested following the incident on Sunday, September 22.
Incident details
Officers were called to Tithebarn Street at around 6.35am where three men were found injured. The victims were taken to hospital for assessment and one remains in hospital in a stable condition.
It is believed the incident took place outside G-Bar on Eberle Street following an altercation between two groups inside. Police confirmed a 31-year-old man from Liverpool has been arrested on suspicion of two counts of attempted murder, a 22-year-old man from Liverpool on suspicion of two counts of section 18 wounding and an 18-year-old man from Liverpool on suspicion of one count of section 18 wounding.
Licence review launched
All three have been in custody and enquiries into the incident are ongoing. Now an expedited premises licence review has been launched by Liverpool Council. Officials from G-Bar will appear before the city’s licensing and gambling sub-committee today (Wednesday, September 23) at Liverpool Town Hall.
According to the publicly released documents ahead of the session, the review has been called as the “premises is associated with both serious crime and serious disorder”.
Police response
Chief Superintendent Natalie Perischine, of Liverpool BCU, said: “We have a zero-tolerance approach to anyone who chooses to carry a weapon in the city centre and my message to those individuals is ‘we will hunt you down’. Officers have been working round the clock to identify those responsible for this shocking incident in the early hours of Sunday morning.”
“Within hours of it taking place we had executed a number of warrants and now have three people in custody. Our proactive work to combat violence in the city centre remains a priority and we are seeing positive results.”
Perischine added that as part of Operation Amalfi and Operation Monaco, there has been an uplift in proactive city centre patrols, increased visibility at weekends and public holidays, the successful use of dispersal zones and city centre banning orders and continued partnership work. She noted a 10% reduction in serious violence in the city centre year on year, as well as reductions in knife and violent crime.
“Liverpool is already recognised as one of the safest cities for a night out, as demonstrated by our Purple Flag status, which has been awarded for 16 consecutive years. We know how important it is that people who live, work and socialise in Liverpool city centre feel safe and I want the public to be reassured that we are doing everything in our powers to find violent criminals and put them behind bars.”
Appeal for information
Anyone with information should contact Merseyside Police's social media desk via X or Facebook @MerPolCC. Information can also be reported via their website or by calling 101 quoting incident reference 26000771554. Alternatively, contact the independent charity Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111, or via their website.
