by Helen Fairley

A nightclub was closed on Saturday night after it was discovered to be more than 400 people over its capacity.

Beluga Bar in Bank Street was one of two nightspots in Maidstone town centre forced to close early last Saturday night (24 October) after they were discovered to be overcrowded.

Beluga Bar was more than 400 people over its capacity, while the Road House in Gabriel’s Hill was 70 people over its limit.

Licensing Officer Barbara Murray said: “We have been working with local licensing officers to monitor nightspots where there has been increased reports of drunken violence to identify the causes.

Audio: Barbara Murray on the nightclub closures

"We found both the Road House and Beluga Bar to be in breach of their license conditions, with extreme overcrowding so we took the decision to close down Beluga over the period of an hour so all their customers could disperse safely. Road House also closed early, at our request.

"It’s not our intention to spoil people’s fun, but when such overcrowding occurs there is a very real danger of both public disorder and risk to people’s safety and we have to react accordingly, to protect the public.

"We will now be looking at working with the licensees to ensure this doesn’t happen again.”