A POPULAR Dudley pub will remain closed to "protect the public" after magistrates ruled its history of violent crimes were linked to gang activity - a claim the licensee strongly denies.

The Earl of Dudley Arms was temporarily shut down on December 30, 2015, after police presented evidence of a string of serious incidents over a two year period to Wolverhampton Magistrates Court in order to secure a closure notice.

The hearing triggered a review by Dudley Council's licensing sub-committee, which revoked the licence in February this year.

Licensee Orville Hines appealed the decision on the grounds it was wrong in fact and law and a two-day hearing was held at Dudley Magistrates Court last week.

Charles Streeten, acting on behalf of Dudley Council, said the closure order and subsequent revoking of the licence was justified by the series of violent incidents that had occurred at the pub between December 2013 and 2015.

Thirteen incidents were flagged up, including an attempted murder, which happened on the car park after the pub had closed in May 2014 and a man being slashed across the face in April 2015.

Mr Streeten said two of the incidents had involved a prominent member of the DSN - a local gang associated with class A drugs, firearms and racketeering - and the association with the gang had given the pub a name and reputation which had escalated beyond the ability of Mr Hines to manage and control.

The sub-committee were also concerned that there had been failure and delays on Mr Hines' part to provide investigating police officers CCTV recordings of incidents, Mr Streeten said.

However Mr Hines denied any association with the DSN, telling the court: "I do not have any connection with any gang. I do not know who the members are."

He said as far as he was concerned, the closure order had been sparked by a "melee" that had broken out at the pub on December 2.

Mr Hines said police asked him to make a statement and a week later, an officer had returned to the pub accusing him of not being "very truthful".

He told the court the officer had told him that he had been pushed and wanted him to make a statement about the assault.

However Mr Hines said he had no recollection of being assaulted: "When I told him I could not remember, he said if he didn't get a statement, his gaffer had had enough of me and was going to close me down."

Police then came to the Wellington Road pub on December 29 and told Mr Hines there would be a hearing at Wolverhampton Magistrates Court the following day to attempt to secure a three-month closure notice.

"I wasn't expecting it," Mr Hines said.

"It wasn't as though something major had happened."

Detective Chief Inspector Chris Hanson, who applied for the closure order, said he had taken all incidents over the two year period into consideration when he made his decision and said there was "intelligence" to suggest the pub was used as a stronghold for the DSN.

He said it was "telling" that there had been no reports of disorder or violent crime in the area since the pub had shut.

He told the court: "The DSN are a sophisticated, well organised criminal gang, if we lived in an ideal world, we would see them disappear but the closure of the pub has helped with making that area safer, I'm absolutely sure of it."

Sarah Clover, acting on behalf of Mr Hines, said: "He is not in cahoots with the DSN, he does not let them take over his pub - he is in control of his pub."

"The police are saying Mr Hines is in league with criminals and that he was perverting the course of justice, if this were true he shouldn't be before the court with his licence on the line, he should be in jail.

"Nothing has been said before these proceedings commenced in December 2015, there has been no explanation how this dramatic change in character came about, he has been the licensee since 2002.

"He is no stranger to West Midlands Police, their licensing team, or the local authority. He has come forward with variations on his licence, has applied for temporary events notices - he has been a visible figure.

"During the day people sit playing dominoes at the pub and in the evening, it's known for functions - does that sit comfortably with the idea that it is a gang-run crime pub?"

She added that the number of times Mr Hines provided CCTV footage "far outweighs the times it wasn't".

"In most, if not all occasions, police looked at the footage on the spot, the delay was about copies of what they had already seen being provided, he wasn't trying to sabotage criminal investigations."

However chairman of the bench, Michael Penn, said he was satisfied the level of crime and disorder had reduced since the pub closed and he felt Mr Hines' provision of CCTV was inconsistent with that of a licensee wanting to prevent crime and disorder.

He added that as a prominent member of the DSN was known to have been involved in a theft and assault at the pub, magistrates were satisfied that the gang had a link to the pub and concluded that the council's decision to revoke the licence would be upheld as it was "necessary to protect the public".