From todays Grauniad…
http://www.guardian.co.uk/print/0,,329696924-103690,00.html
Tenants ‘converted council homes into nightclub’
Dan Bell
Friday January 26, 2007
Guardian
A council tenant knocked two houses into one to create an illegal nightclub in which were installed a pool table, fruit machines, disco lights and a bar complete with optics, a court has heard.
Glen Gordon, 40, and his partner, Alviria Benjamin, face being forced out of the eight-bedroom property after hosting wild parties in his living room and charging “clubbers” a £2.50 entrance fee, Walsall county court was told.
The court heard that installation of a bar, glitter ball, disco lights, a 42-inch television, a gym and a sauna proved the house was “not being used normally”, and that the council should be allowed to repossess it. Sandwell council’s representative, Catherine Rowlands, seeking a possession order, said: “In the summer of 2004, the police logs state that a staggering 400 people visited the property within a 36-hour period.The house had been set up as a club. At one stage, it is said it was £2.50 entry and £2.50 a beer.”
Allegations of running a nightclub, as well as drug dealing, rent arrears and anti-social behaviour, have been levelled at the family during the case. All the allegations have been denied.
One allegation is that one of Mrs Benjamin’s sons grew cannabis in his bedroom and it could be smelled by council officials. But she insisted the odour was that of her son’s feet. The case continues.
