Notorious bar is closed down

Yorkshire Police, Anwar Butt of the licensing authority said: “It has been the experience of all concerned that the management of this premises has been questionable.

“This is demonstrated by a continued failure to operate within the requirements of the licensing act and to ensure that the licensing objectives are met.

“We would like to support the police request for revocation of this licence. Mr Rashid and his sister Shahista have been given every opportunity to comply with their requirements since October 2015.

“However, on each occasion they have shown themselves to have a lack of commitment to fulfilling these requirements and on each occasion they have laid the blame for this with either the council or West Yorkshire Police.”

But Mr Rashid said: “It’s a professionally-run outfit. The bar supervisor has 40 years’ experience. We have completed a £150,000 refurbishment this year. We have made mistakes before but it was not done maliciously. We have run it to a very high standard.”

After a hearing lasting nearly two hours, panel chairman Clr Cathy Scott said: “The decision is that we are going to revoke the licence.”

The owner of the bar later pledged to appeal the decision - meaning Le Choix can remain open until that is heard. In a Facebook post the owners accused police of blowing events out of proportion.