'20-woman brawl' outside Mordens Wine Bar raises licence concerns

Although it is not known if the women were drinking in the wine bar before the fight began, residents have raised concerns about the behaviour of the bar’s patrons in the past.

Mordens Wine Bar successfully applied to extend its premises licence to sell alcohol across all its floors at Lewisham Council’s licensing committee in January.

A spokesperson from the Blackheath Society said the council’s licensing committee had “ignored” concerns the licence extension would cause problems.

“Morden’s had previously been shut down by the police in late 2018 due to another incident. The society regrets renewed crime and public nuisance connected with Mordens,” they said.

“We objected to the extension of the late licence in January not least as Mordens is in the Blackheath cumulative impact zone, where an applicant has to demonstrate that an extension will not cause problems, which in our opinion they did not do.

“The licensing committee ignored this and granted the licence extension nonetheless,” they said.

A resident who filmed part of the brawl on Saturday said fights were common-place at the venue and criticised the council for extending the licence in January.

She said the fight lasted 15 minutes with “trouble” still going on outside the venue long after.

The woman said this was “normal for this venue” and the licence application should not have been approved.

A Met Police spokesperson said police were called to Montpelier Vale just before midnight on Saturday.

“Police were called to Montpelier Vale at 23.46hrs on 16 March to reports of a fight involving 20 females. Officers attended.

“A 37-year-old woman and a 38-year-old woman were arrested at the scene on suspicion of being drunk and disorderly.

“One of the women was seen by paramedics from the London Ambulance Service but she did not require hospital treatment. Enquiries continue.”

Mordens Wine Bar and Lewisham Council were contacted for comment.