Troubled Tiger Bills gets police aid (From This Is Wiltshire)

WILTSHIRE Police say they are working with management at Old Town’s newest nightclub, Tiger Bills, to overcome its teething problems.

And officers are still a long way off calling in the licence for a review.

The club, which hit controversy even before its launch in August, was closed temporarily at the weekend to make some changes to improve the venue after a successful opening few weeks, with the management planning to re-open in the festive season.

The nightclub has seen a string of problems. A clubber spent three hours in intensive care after falling eight feet from a railing in the venue in what he admitted was an accident.

Later in September, seven men were arrested following a disturbance outside the club after it reached capacity and door staff refused to allow more entries.

And last week, the Adver reported that a woman had made a complaint to police, alleging she had been knocked into a wall by a bouncer after a friend was asked to leave. The club said it had dealt with the incident correctly and professionally.

PC Andy Alexander, a police licensing officer for Swindon, admitted there has been some teething problems but said some complaints, such as fights and ejected customers, happen in any venue that sells alcohol, although Tiger Bills was unlucky to get them all in the first few weeks.

He said officers had been working with management, like they do with many clubs, to solve the problems and most of the ideas for improvement had come from Tiger Bills.

PC Alexander said he was surprised at the closure – stressing police were not involved – and said that, until the premises re-opens, the effect of the changes could not be assessed.

He said: “When they re-open we can start talking with them and say ‘That’s not working, this is not working’ and look for more improvements if they’re needed.

“If we get to a point where there’s nothing else we can do but review because we want more than they can give us, then we will review. But we’re nowhere near that.”

PC Alexander said since the opening, police training had been delivered to staff to make them aware of their responsibilities to protect people from alcohol. Management had reduced their working hours on some nights, as they had found problems increased after a certain time.

He said they had changed the door through which clubbers were ejected, repositioned doormen, modified queueing arrangements, and taken measures to reduce the risk of a repeat of the fall in September.

Dan Field, the manager of Tiger Bills, was contacted by the Adver and did not respond yesterday.