Dunbar pub served alcohol to schoolkids and held 'lock in' to mark end of term

The owner of a Dunbar pub where it was claimed school children were served alcohol and took part in a ‘lock in’ to mark the end of term has been given a written warning from licensing chiefs.

Representatives for Louis Di Resta, landlord of the well-known restaurant and hotel The Rocks, on the town’s Marine Road, said he had taken on a new tenant to run it in March this year, who had operated a number of other venues in the town in the past.

However, within weeks of the handover, licensing standards officers had received numerous complaints from local residents and people in the bar, who reported underage drinking, anti-social behaviour, and noise.

The officer told a meeting of East Lothian Licensing Board that on one visit to The Rocks she was accompanied by four police officers who found a group of young people in a corner of the bar, with one identified as 17, as well as evidence the manager had also been drinking while in sole charge of the pub.

She said that during the last week of April, nine complaints were received, including one where 20 young men left the bar, one very drunk, and walked up the street singing football songs.

Other complaints involved customers urinating in the road after leaving the premises, customers allegedly saw youths they knew were school pupils aged 16 and 17 being served alcohol, and claims that an end-of-school ‘lock-in’ involving senior pupils was held on April 30.

A meeting of the licensing board called to review the premises licence for The Rocks heard the tenant had surrendered his personal licence, and his tenancy was terminated by landlord Louis Di Resta after the review was announced.

His agent, Alistair McDonal,d told the board the problem, in his view, was that The Rocks, which had operated happily alongside neighbours for years as a “restaurant with rooms,” was changed by the new tenant who only opened the bar, leaving the restaurant and hotel closed.

Mr McDonald said: “The biggest problem here was that the bar was opened and the rooms and restaurant remained closed. If it were run as it should be, it would not attract the same clientele.”

Mr McDonald told the board that the most recent tenancy had been “disastrous” and the entire venue was now closed until the right tenant could be found by Mr Di Resta to take it on.

And he said work would be done to rebuild trust with local residents moving forward, as he apologised to the board for the issue caused.

He said: “It is clear the relationship between the hotel and its neighbours has understandably broken down, and it is clear it will need a lot of work to rebuild it.

“This is a great property in a beautiful location. This tenancy has been horrendous, and lessons have been learned.”

The board agreed to issue a written warning to the premises but allow it to keep its licence as the landlord now looks for a new tenant after being assured more ‘robust’ measures would be taken and it would be operated as intended, with the hotel and restaurant at its core in the future.

A police representative at the board meeting said a man had been charged in connection with an incident of underage drinking in the pub.