Chesterfield bar defends staff after concerns raised over handling of ‘very intoxicated’ woman

A woman has complained to Monk Bar to say she is ‘extremely concerned with the actions of your door staff’ after she and a group of friends stopped to help the female on Saturday night.

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Monk Bar said staff checked on the woman and gave her some water.

The Corporation Street nightspot insisted there was an ‘adequate level of care from our door and bar staff’.

The woman who has complained – who has asked not to be named – said: “On Saturday night, my friends and I were walking back into town from the train station and happened upon a clearly very intoxicated young lady and her friend.

“She was passed out on a bench being sick. Her friend was trying her best to help but was obviously distressed. Two door staff were watching from the entry to the bar. We approached them first and said it may be worth checking on her, to which we were told it’s nothing to do with them – she’d been kicked out of another bar.

“My friend is a nurse and went back to get her into the recovery position and checked her, speaking to both and calming them down.

“One of the door staff said he had given her a bottle of water and put her on the bench. He was the only one to have shown any empathy whatsoever. The female worker was more concerned that we thought the girl had come from their bar and the image it was projecting of the bar than the welfare of the young girl. She was not concerned at all.

“A third man appeared from behind me – so he may not be a team member of Monk – and almost started to pick a fight with us for intervening. When I asked if anyone had checked if she was breathing or tried to bring her back round, he laughed. I said ‘imagine if that was your daughter, potentially not breathing, laying in a vulnerable position, how would you feel?’ His response was disgusting. He said he was a heartless b****** and would watch her die. He said if door staff cross that line they risk losing their jobs.”

The woman said she was left ‘appalled’.

A spokesperson for Monk Bar said: “We are investigating the situation thoroughly – we obviously take anything of this nature very seriously.

“Our staff checked on her, made sure she was OK and gave her some bottled water.

“Her friend claimed she was OK and her parents were on her way to collect her.

“We feel this was an adequate level of care from our door and bar staff as an initial response to unknown members of the public who arrived outside our venue.

“They also have a duty of care for the customers of our venue and our staff which is a very difficult task as you can imagine on a busy Saturday evening with a lot of responsibility.

“Our door staff stayed in close proximity and would never have left her alone if she didn’t appear to have adequate care around her (eight people at this point, including a nurse).”

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