Manchester: Thirty police officers sent to deal with bar brawl
Every police officer in a city centre unit was despatched to deal with a fight at a bar, licensing chiefs have been told. The brawl broke out at Eagle, on Deansgate, Manchester, on 4 May, and saw 200 people spill out onto the road.Armed police had been called the week before, when a neighbour thought they had heard a security guard shout 'gun' during another altercation. On Monday, Manchester City Council's licensing committee lifted the suspension of the bar's licence and imposed conditions.
The bar's licensee, Ugochukwu Inyama, apologised for the fights.But he said he had felt "ganged up on" because of how many complaints had been made - many of which had not been upheld. The committee heard from neighbours that there was a "wider trend" of antisocial behaviour at the premises, including people urinating in the street and playing loud music from cars parked outside.
PC Stuart Hammersley said Greater Manchester Police had sent all of its night-time economy team of 30 officers to the 4 May incident. "For all 30 [police officers] to attend is unusual. It's not a weekly occurrence," he added."All those officers not engaged means they are not across the city centre and other busy areas."Mr Inyama, a 25-year veteran of Manchester's hospitality scene, said the fights were "very regrettable"."GMP have looked at the whole thing and they have made recommendations which we fully agree with," he told the committee."Those two nights we slipped up and we are sorry about it."
'Bottle shows'
Deansgate ward councillor Anthony McCaul said he believed Eagle had ignored a condition that said it should promote responsible drinking. He showed pictures taken from the bar's social media accounts showing alcohol being poured from bottles into women's mouths. Licensee Mr Inyama said the images taken showed "bottle shows", and no alcohol was poured into customers' mouths by staff. Mr Inyama admitted he "could see" the image promoted irresponsible behaviour.
The committee heard there had been 40 complaints in about 18 months, and officers said they had found no evidence of noise problems. Mr Inyama added: "On May 26, 2025, we were closed and a resident reported an incident that we had music playing and cars parked all over the place. "We had the licensing team visit and look at CCTV and they could see we were closed." Four crimes were recorded at Eagle in the previous 12 months - two phone thefts and two assaults -which PC Hammersley said was "below average" for a town bar. The committee imposed a condition that no bottles could be served, other than wine with meals, and ordered the bar to close earlier at weekends. It must now close at 02:00 GMT on Fridays and Saturdays, and 01:00 on Sundays.
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