Halifax club and bar allowed to reopen after double stabbing
A nightclub and cocktail bar ordered to shut after two men were fatally stabbed nearby will be allowed to reopen.
Halifax nightclub Maggie's and cocktail bar McFly's were temporarily closed after the deaths of Joshua Clark, 21, and Haidar Shah, 19, on 1 October.
Kirklees Magistrates' Court previously heard the sites had been associated with 25 unruly incidents in 2023.
On Wednesday, Calderdale Council's licensing sub-committee agreed to their reopening with licence changes.
A closure notice was put in place on 4 October after Mr Clark and Mr Shah were attacked and fatally injured outside Maggie's.
The court order, which is in place until Friday following an extension, triggered a licence review for the venues, the Local Democracy Reporting Service said.
West Yorkshire Police had already applied for the nightclub's licence to be reviewed in September after a series of incidents dating back to 2022.
The club and bar are in the same building and owned and managed by the same family, police papers submitted to the court stated.
The papers detailed incidences of violence, including one relating to a dancefloor wounding, after which the club agreed to install a knife arch to detect weapons.
Police said they had been concerned about what they described as "serious disorder and violence".
The force now told councillors that after "constructive conversations" they were not seeking revocation of the licence.
Councillors heard there had been no issues with McFly's but it had to be taken into consideration because of the way the licences were structured.
Licence changes imposed by councillors included the use of a police-approved security company, re-joining Halifax's town centre radio scheme and using a knife arch entry for weapon searches.
Andrew Garthwaite, solicitor for West Yorkshire Police, said the changes would satisfy the force and allow Maggie's to trade "without forming a risk to public safety".
Solicitor for the companies owning the premises, Maggies Halifax Ltd and McFly's Bar Halifax Ltd, Joanne Lata, said the club was "not the worst" in terms of incident numbers compared to other areas of the town centre.
Regarding the fatal stabbings, the club owners felt it was unfair to apportion blame for something which did not happen on their premises, Ms Lata added.
A 19-year-old man has previously pleaded not guilty to the murders of Mr Clark and Mr Shah.
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