Huge armed brawl bursts from restaurant into middle of street and leaves man 'out cold'

manchestereveningnews.co.uk:

A restaurant has been stripped of its alcohol licence after a ‘shocking’ early-hours brawl which saw belts, bricks and street furniture used as weapons and a man left ‘knocked out cold’ in the middle of the road. Mesob, in Moss Side, was hit with the ‘draconian’ punishment after licensing chiefs heard the venue was open four hours later than it should have been when the fight broke out at 5am on Sunday July 3.

The fight involved round 15 men and was reported by a council CCTV operator and a member of the public who passed the scene in a taxi .The Princess Road venue failed to call the police during the incident, which was said to have begun after a group tried to force their way in despite being turned away.

Neither did boss Kidane Mokonen - the premises licence holder - respond when officers arrived and knocked on the restaurant’s shutters in the aftermath of the melee, a town hall panel was told. No CCTV evidence from inside the venue has been forthcoming, despite repeated police requests. It also emerged the establishment had 'massively’ changed its layout to accommodate a hairdressers salon, without alerting the council’s licensing department - meaning all alcohol sales since alterations made in 2019 were unlawful.

READ MORE : Nightclub shut down following allegations teenage boy raped woman in toilet cubicle

Laura Raine, of the council’s legal services, said that - while the decision was ‘draconian’ - it was also the only ‘appropriate and proportionate outcome’ given the circumstances. “There is a clear catalogue of evidence of failings by the premises licence holder and the committee had no confidence that the premises licence holder will uphold the licensing objectives,” she said, delivering the panel’s