'Police officer bitten during mass brawl at Islington tapas bar Cañas y Tapas'

Licence review: Canas y Tapas in Islington's Upper Street
Google Streetview
WEST END FINAL

Get our award-winning daily news email featuring exclusive stories, opinion and expert analysis

I would like to be emailed about offers, event and updates from Evening Standard. Read our privacy notice.

A tapas bar is facing calls for its licence to be revoked after a series of violent incidents, including one in which a teenager allegedly bit a police officer.

Police compared Cañas y Tapas, in Islington, to a “drunken youth club”. Officers reported allegations of underage drinking and mass brawls involving customers. Islington council will tonight hear an application for the Upper Street restaurant to have its licence revoked.

In a report to the authority, police detailed an incident last February in which a 16-year-old already wanted by officers allegedly escaped through an emergency exit at the restaurant while they waited to arrest him.

The report said a fight then broke out among customers who had left the restaurant. Islington’s licensing officer Pc Peter Conisbee noted: “One officer suffered bite injuries from the young person that was wanted. One person was arrested for possession of a hunting knife and another was arrested for obstruction of a drug search.

“The sergeant leading the officers that evening has provided a statement in which he states of the venue ‘the majority of the crowd was very young to be legally on the premises drinking alcohol. I would describe the place as being a drunken youth club’.” Another drunken brawl allegedly erupted at the venue last December, leaving a woman with a “GBH-type injury” when an earring was ripped from her ear. In a separate incident about 10 people spilled out of the bar to fight in the road, according to police.

Pc Conisbee, who is asking for the venue to be stripped of its licence, said: “We find it wholly irresponsible that eight women and three men who were all involved in the disturbance were able to walk back into the venue unchallenged — this is a clear indication to us that there is either no control or no willingness to control their patrons.”

Janice Gibbons, of Islington council, added: “The level of crime and disorder incidents linked to the venue over the last year has been significant and is disproportionate to other similarly licensed, well-managed venues in the local area.” A spokesman for Cañas y Tapas offered no comment.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in