A SOUTHAMPTON pub has avoided being shut down despite more details being revealed of a mass brawl which involved a member of staff punching a customer.

Details of the fight which led to the closure of the Shield and Dagger were outlined at a licensing meeting which was held to determine the future of the venue.

The meeting heard how 30 people were involved at the pub in Shirley including an unnamed staff member who escaped over a fence after hitting a customer.

The extent of the violence in the early hours of March 20, requiring an ambulance for two people, was revealed at the Southampton City Council licensing hearing yesterday.

The meeting heard the Stratton Road pub had been reported to police more than 20 times since late 2014, with allegations including “sexual entertainment”.

A representative of landlord Tony Cookson, who denies wrongdoing, said most complaints were placed maliciously by a rival pub.

He was ordered to train staff further, ban them from drinking on duty, not allow customers behind the bar and hire bouncers for live music nights and private functions.

PC Alex Boucouvalas asked the committee to consider revoking its licence.

He said: “There’s a general feel of a lack of management, a lack of clear direction and a lack of leadership to take control of that premises when there are problems that arise.”

He added: “Police have been repeatedly refused CCTV footage from the premises when we’re trying to investigate what’s going on.”

As previously reported, the brawl on March 20 sparked an emergency shutdown.

Mr Cookson met strict police demands and reopened after a week, and the committee lifted some of these interim rules yesterday.

No one has been arrested or charged following the fight last month, but the committee ordered the pub not to rehire the member of staff involved.

Mr Cookson’s solicitor, Jon Wallsgrove, said the man was “assaulted first” and only acted to defend the landlord. The press and members of the public were excluded from the meeting for over an hour while CCTV was played and discussed.

Mr Wallsgrove said the pub operated without problems for years and many complaints were made by a local family which has been barred.

“We feel as though it’s been engineered to get the premises reviewed as these people actually work at another premises in Shirley,” he said.

“The Shield and Dagger is not run as a profitable business but more ... as a labour of love," he said.

“It is a place where [Mr Cookson] has a home from home. He provides a home for his son and he wants to be able to entertain his family and friends at the premises and keep a community pub going where unfortunately over the last five or six years so many of the residential pubs have closed as they are failing businesses.”

Dozens of residents wrote to the council to support the Shield and Dagger with just one letter of opposition, the meeting heard.

Christopher Kelly, a tax consultant who’s frequented the pub for 27 years, said he was “astounded” by the clampdown proposed by police.

Mr Wallsgrove said the pub was pleased with the decision.