PROBLEMS at a pub in a Basingstoke suburb – which included the discovery of cocaine and public order issues – were down to the fact that its former manager could not cope with running the troubled venue, a meeting heard.

Richard Taylor, representing Enterprise Inns, made the claim about The Popinjay pub, in Abbey Road, at the borough council’s licensing sub-committee meeting on Monday.

The police have asked Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council to review the pub’s licence after reports of violence and late night noise.

The meeting heard officers had recorded six assaults, two public order offences, three noise complaints and one drunk and disorderly incident during the six months the pub was run by Christine Jones.

PC Claire Wanless, a police licensing officer, said officers had found traces of cocaine at the pub when they came to the pub on June 7 this year, responding to a report of a man attacking other customers and smashing glasses.

The meeting heard Miss Jones had left the pub in October to go to Birmingham, telling police she could not control the customers or their drug use. She was not present at the sub-committee meeting.

Mr Taylor said: “I’m not here to defend her and I do not dispute that they (the incidents) happened.

“What I will say is that they happened because, very unfortunately, Christine Jones was not as good as we thought she was going to be.”

He added that Enterprise Inns had closed down the pub after she left, when the police expressed dissatisfaction that her nephew, Nicholas Dudley, had applied to become designated premises supervisor.

Mr Taylor said he agreed with most of the conditions proposed by the police for the pub, including improving its CCTV system and staff training.

But he said a proposal to make the pub serve beer in plastic containers, rather than glasses, would be the “death knell” for the venue, saying they were not popular with customers.

Councillor Jane Frankum, who represents Popley West on the borough council and lives in Abbey Road, said she wanted people in Popley to “enjoy not endure” The Popinjay pub.

She added: “We would like to see the pub back as a family pub. It will take time and an experienced licensee to turn it around.

“Popley is a good and safe place to live, and we do not want to tolerate such behaviour we have heard about tonight.”

The committee, chaired by Cllr Terri Reid, said they would adjourn the meeting and come up with a decision on the licence within five days of the meeting.

The committee could revoke the licence, suspend it, or make alterations to the conditions of the licence.

A decision had not been made by the time The Gazette went to press.