JUSTICE Martin Gayle yesterday ordered popular New Kingston nightclub Escape 24/7 closed after hearing that its owner had kept it open after an application for a club registration licence was turned down by Resident Magistrate Georgiana Fraser last November.

Representatives from the Village Café, on Barbican Road, and Priscilla's Night Club, on Constant Spring Road, were also brought before the court to answer charges of operating without a spirit licence or a Place of Amusement licence. This follows last week's crackdown on illegal gas stations and nightclubs by the Agro-Environmental Enforcement branch of the Island Special Constabulary Force (ISCF).

Five Escape 24/7 workers were ordered to pay a fine of $3,000 or spend 30 days behind bars for selling alcohol without licences - a breach of the Spirit Licence Act - while the club's manager, Orville Bryan, in addition to being charged for selling alcohol without a licence, is facing charges of operating a club without a Places of Amusement licence and, aiding and abetting the club's operation since being ordered closed last year.

Although expressing sympathy for the workers' loss of employment, Gayle maintained that the law must always be upheld, despite the circumstances.
"Everything has rules and regulations, that is the order of the day. I know that people are out of work today but that is the law," he said.

Robert Collins, manager of the Village Café and Abeng Stewart, manager of Priscilla's Night Club, were also ordered to pay $3,000 or spend 30 days in prison when they appeared in court answering to charges of operating without a spirit licence and operating without a Place of Amusement Licence.

According to Commander William Malabver of the Agro-Environmental Enforcement Branch, Keith Braithwaite, another manager at Priscilla's Night Club, and Richard Spence of The Deck, at Trafalgar Road, have also been convicted of both offences.

Malabver also stated that with the exception of Priscilla's Night Club, whose Place of Amusement licence expired in March of last year, none of the three mentioned nightclubs had ever operated with either licences. He noted, however, that apart from Escape 24/7, all these establishments had remained closed since last week's raid on them by the Agro-Environmental Branch.

The drive to regularise the operations of the corporate area nightclubs began last October when the Kingston and St Andrew Corporation (KSAC) threatened to close down Escape 24/7, Coco Loco, JAVAA nightclubs because they did not have Places of Amusement licences.

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