Future of Greater Manchester pub in limbo after 'underage drinking' sting and allegations of assaults

A legal row has erupted following an underage drinking sting at a Flixton pub. It comes after a series of incidents, including allegations of three serious assaults, at the Garricks Head pub on Moorside Road, and whether they should affect a review of its licence.

The review by Trafford’s licensing sub-committee, due to take place on Wednesday (November 29), was adjourned until after the New Year, leaving the future of the pub in limbo. This follows two sting operations in which ‘volunteers’ were sent into the pub by trading standards officers in a bid to prove that alcohol was being sold to underage teenagers. The result of these operations are set to determined at a later hearing.

The council’s solicitor James Parry successfully argued for the adjournment after further evidence of 11 incidents - including three serious assaults between June 21 2020 and April 2023 - emerged on Tuesday (November 28) evening. But Piers Warne, the solicitor representing the licensee - pub company Punch Taverns Ltd - argued that the presentation of new evidence at such a late stage was ‘against regulations’.

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He also said that it was not relevant to the grounds on which the trading standards officers made a specific request for a review of the licence - the protection of children from harm. Mr Parry had said that the 11 incidents had been discovered by the council’s community safety officer - who has access to police records - and that the evidence about to be presented to the sub-committee was ‘not complete’.

He told the three sitting