Customers helped themselves to booze in Havant pub with no staff
FREE BOOZE No staff were on duty at The Perserverance
AN INVESTIGATION has been launched after customers were able to walk behind the bar and serve themselves drinks in a busy Havant pub.
The only member of staff on duty at The Perseverance in North Street, walked out at 8.30pm on Friday night, taking the pub’s takings with her.
Drinkers have told how they saw others simply step behind the bar and pour pints and handed them out while loyal regulars and the pub DJ desperately tried to keep order.
The landlord had apparently left a young female staff member in charge at 7.30pm while he visited other pubs in the town centre.
Pubgoers told The News that while he was gone the staff member walked out – leaving the pub without any staff at all.
As news spread in North Street about the pub with no staff, more people turned up.
One drinker, who did not want to be named, said: ‘It was chaos.
‘At one point there were six people behind the bar getting themselves drinks and handing them out.
‘The girl who was left in charge just walked out and took all the money from the till with her. It was basically a free-for-all.
‘It was absolutely packed and people just helped themselves.’
The landlord returned to the pub at 9.10pm just after a passing police officer stepped in to see what was going on.
The pub was cleared of problem customers and the landlord was allowed to carry on trading until closing time and throughout the weekend.
The pub is owned by Admiral Taverns, based in Chester, but is run by a holding company which leases the building.
The landlord is said to have told Admiral that he only left the pub to check out the competition in the other town centre pubs.
When The News contacted the landlord, who did not give his name, he said he was reluctant to talk because the incident was still being investigated.
He would only say that he had been ‘let down’ by the person he left in charge on Friday night.
The company confirmed that all the takings were later handed back.
In a statement the company said: ‘There was an issue with one member of staff at The Perseverance on Friday evening.
‘This was resolved quickly – within one hour – and the pub continued to trade as normal and throughout the weekend.
‘The management of the pub are reviewing operating procedures to ensure this specific, one-off problem is not repeated, and that the pub continues to serve the local community to the satisfaction of its customers, local people and indeed the licensing authorities and police.’
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Friday 25 May 2012
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Comments
There are 5 comments to this article
Page 1 of 1
griffon
Wednesday, August 3, 2011 at 07:39 PMA pub with no staff is better than a pub with no beer.
Renegade
Tuesday, August 2, 2011 at 07:26 PMid make the landlord pay up for the alcohol lost and for the takings that were lost and also sack him
Sailor Sam
Tuesday, August 2, 2011 at 05:03 PMI have never had a pint at the Perseverance. Is it a Free House???
malex181
Tuesday, August 2, 2011 at 04:30 PMWhy on earth was there only 1 member of staff on duty on a Friday night? I know the perseverance and it is one of the roughest pubs in havant on a friday night so to have only a single staff member is asking for trouble! That pub has bouncers so what were they up to? Shocking, serves them right.
ST1975
Tuesday, August 2, 2011 at 03:16 PMSo basically the landlord went out on the razz and left one member of staff on their own. She got fed up with it and walked out. The boozy landlord then had to come back to do his job!
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