A LANDLORD who has been removed as the designated premises supervisor of his Hereford pub said he was 'mortified' when he discovered a stripper had performed there, a council committee heard.

David Pope, of the Queen's Arms, also said he did not know about the male stripper's appearance until after it had happened and it was not the sort of behaviour he wanted to promote in the venue.

Police requested a review of the Broad Street pub's licence following the incident on April 23.

At a hearing of Herefordshire Council's regulatory committee last week, Inspector Nick Semper said the application was not about police, who did not request Mr Pope be removed as DPS, taking the ‘moral high ground’ and was instead about compliance with the law and the licensing conditions.

The premises licence for the Queens Arms, the committee heard, specifically excludes adult entertainment. The stripper had been booked by a party of women and photos were later posted on social media before being seen by officers.

Three days after the incident on April 23, police attended the premises and spoke to Mr Pope who said he did not know the incident was taking place and was working himself on the night.

At last week’s hearing, police provided two photographs of the male, naked, at the premises with members of the public clearly visible.

The area where the photographs were taken was at the front of the venue near to a large window overlooking Broad Street, close to both Hereford Cathedral and All Saint’s Church.

Inspector Semper said: “Quite clearly on the night in question Mr Pope failed to prevent the performance taking place.

“Even when it was taking place whether ‘on his watch’ or not, there is a denial by Mr Pope that he knew it was happening. Clearly this suggests a lack of control over the premises at the time, and therefore failure to promote your licensing objectives and adhere to those conditions this committee itself has set.”

But Mr Pope, who has been at the pub for six years, said he had been working behind the bar at the time and there had been an influx of people which obscured the view to the room in which the stripper was performing.

"This is the reason I did not see it, the area was totally blocked,” he said.

“I was mortified. It's not the sort of thing I want to promote in the pub. The young lady whose birthday it was didn't know anything about it. If she had told me it would never have happened.”

He said he has since upgraded his CCTV system and would do everything in his power to ensure it never happened again.

However the committee also heard Mr Pope did not employ door staff.

“The stripper was not hired by the pub or any of its employees,” he added. “No member of staff was aware that was going to happen.”

The committee said it considered there were ‘apparent and significant shortcomings’ in the management of the premises.

It modified and added a number of conditions to the licence and removed Mr Pope as the Designated Premises Supervisor.