Chesterfield Wetherspoon's pub reacts after claims brawl brought town 'into disrepute'

Derbyshire police launched an investigation after being called to The Portland Hotel, on West Bars, on Saturday, July 4 to reports of a group of people ‘fighting’.

Footage of the brawl – on the first day pubs were allowed to reopen after lockdown – later surfaced on social media and was shared by 1,200 people.

Chesterfield councillor Ed Fordham, who represents Brockwell, said Wetherspoon had ‘failed to put in place basic security measures’, and ‘inevitably fights and disruption occurred and the film footage went viral damaging the reputation of the town’.

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The Liberal Democrat councillor says he will be asking Chesterfield Borough Council’s licensing committee what measures were put in place to ‘counter the excessive drinking, fighting, brawling and violence at the Portland Hotel, that has been widely filmed and shared and circulated bringing the town into disrepute’.

Wetherspoon spokesperson Eddie Gershon said: “We stated at the time that we completely condemned the violence at The Portland Hotel.

“The pub is well established in the town and has a very good reputation.

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“We have never had door staff at the pub and will not be doing so now.

“The pub has high staff numbers at all times. Managers wear body cams (this is common in all Wetherspoon pubs) and the pub has CCTV.

“Since the pub reopened it has a strict seating policy at all times and the pub operates a strict Challenge 21, whereby anyone who looks under 21 is asked to show ID.

“Managers are visible on the pub floor to ensure the pub runs smoothly and safely.

“The comments from the councilor stating that Wetherspoon failed to put in place basic safety measures is not true.

“Our management and staff work hard to ensure that the pub is a safe place for customers to socialise in and staff to work in, however there are instances when they are taken totally by surprise as was the case with the incident.

“The fact that someone decided to record the footage is out of our control.”

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