Kentish Gazette Canterbury & District
Pub brawls were ‘like something of Wild West’
Exclusive
A man was punched unconscious and left lying in a pool of blood amid “Wild West” scenes in two city centre pubs.
Chairs were thrown and an innocent bystander’s head was slammed into a table as violence erupted on Saturday night.
Fighting between two groups of men started at the Seven Stars in Orange Street at just before 9.30pm, with punches thrown at doormen. Minutes later another fracas between the groups erupted outside the Thomas Becket in Best Lane, in which one man was knocked unconscious and a window damaged
The fighting spilled into the pub with chairs thrown about and a family enjoying a night out sucked into the mayhem.
Oli Nonis, of security firm Akon, was working outside the Ballroom in Orange Street when he saw the violence explode at the Seven Stars. He said: “There were lots of people looking through the window of the pub and then suddenly all of these bodies spilled out into the road.
“I could see people throwing punches at the doormen so we rushed up there to help and try to pull apart the two warring groups.”
Mr Nonis, 37, said at least one man was covered in blood.
Ten minutes later another brawl involving the same two groups erupted outside the Thomas Becket, where one man was left lying motionless in the road.
A family were enjoying a drink inside the pub when they found themselves at the centre of the violence.
The mother said: “These men came in and they looked angry and aggressive. Suddenly, people crashed into me. I had my back to them, but I had my head slammed against a table and my hair yanked back and suffered from whiplash the next day. Outside there was a bloke lying unconscious on the ground.
“There was a pool of blood around him and his eyes were rolling into the back of the head. There was a woman next to him who was shouting ‘look what you’ve done, look what you’ve done’.”
Video footage has emerged showing the man lying close to the pub’s front door, surrounded by shattered glass from its window.
Mr Nonis says Thomas Becket staff and other customers were taken into back areas to remove them from the violence. He said: “It was a scene of absolute chaos and resembled something out of the Wild West.”
Charles Smythe, 47, landlord of both the Becket and Seven Stars, said: “It started off as an incident in the Stars. The manager and bouncers managed to calm the situation down, but it went outside. We can’t control what they do later. One group went after the other and this one guy was attacked outside the Becket, while the other went inside. They’ve then gone in after him.
“It was over quickly. The problem is that when it’s hot you have people going out in the middle of the day, starting to drink and misjudging the amount they’ve had. I know people will say of the Stars that it has this reputation, but it doesn’t live up to it. It’s popular with students and we haven’t had a police incident for two years.”
Police say a 46-year-old man was treated for a head injury, which was not serious. A 21-yearold man and a 50-year-old man were arrested and have been released on bail pending further inquiries.