A landlord to a troubled pub will hand over his licence after police requested a review.

The Woodland Tavern, formerly The Canterbury Tales, on Canterbury Street in Gillingham was subject of a licence review following a request by Kent Police.

At the licensing hearing panel on December 10, councillors heard from PC Andre Smuts who outlined the series of events which prompted the request for review.

The force had asked for the council to impose conditions about staff training, a comprehensive CCTV system which would be available to police upon request and for all incidents to be reported to police.

However, they also requested the pub landlord, Mr Lee Gaul, be removed as designated premises supervisor (DPS) as the police said he had been uncooperative and not responded to requests to improve the CCTV system and institute the conditions voluntarily.

He then added that after the review request, Mr Gaul contacted the police and explained he had not responded previously due to personal and business reasons.

PC Smuts said Mr Gaul was now willing to introduce the three conditions the police had asked for and the manager of the Woodland Tavern was in the process of obtaining a personal licence which would enable Mr Gaul to transfer the DPS role to them.

Because of this, PC Smuts suggested the panel vote to impose the conditions but not demand the immediate DPS change so there is time for the manager at Woodland Tavern to be ready to take on the role.

He said: “In the interests of working with the property owner, and because Mr Gaul has become quite co-operative, I would not oppose for there to be a grace period for that DPS change to occur.

“That way, they can get their ducks in a row and the manager can get their personal licence in the post.”

Mr Gaul said the manager at the Woodland Tavern had agreed to take on the DPS role and would receive her personal licence imminently and outlined how he and the new DPS would manage staff training.

He said: “The licence is due any time now and she’s more than willing to be the new DPS for the property.

“I’m putting together a training programme now, which I’m about halfway through, which I will then reinforce every six weeks - and the new DPS will also pass this practice on with every staff member from then on.”

The panel decided to impose the three conditions which the police had asked for and set a deadline for the transfer of the DPS role from Mr Gaul to the manager of Woodland Tavern as January 8.

The request was sparked by two violent incidents which were not reported to the police.

The first was when a man was punched to the floor by a member of staff and then punched and kicked.

The second involved an incident between two customers where one headbutted the other.

When police tried to obtain CCTV recordings of the incidents, they had been automatically wiped and in PC Smuts’ report to the council he said this had severely hindered the investigation in each of the incidents.

The pub is owned by Ei Group Ltd, part of the Stonegate Group, who, in their written contribution, sided with police and said the removal of Mr Gaul was a proportionate request.

Speaking to the Local Democracy Reporting Service prior to the hearing a spokesperson from Stonegate Group said: “The Woodland Tavern operates under a leased and tenanted model, meaning the publican independently manages the premises and holds the premises license.

“As a responsible landlord, we expect all publicans leasing our sites to uphold high operational standards and comply with licensing objectives.”