A GREENOCK pub has had its licence suspended and its manager’s ripped up completely after a catalogue of alleged offences — including an AXE being found within the premises.

The Lynedoch Bar, on Lynedoch Street, will be banned from selling booze for the next four weeks following yesterday’s decision by the Inverclyde Licensing Board.

Bar boss Kevin Coyle, who was at the hearing, also had his personal licence revoked after he too was the subject of a review.

Both hearings were triggered by Police Scotland, following a spate of alleged violent incidents in the last four months — including assaults and fights said to be linked to the bar and the discovery of an axe lying inside the premises.

Concerns were also raised about a lack of staff training, missing documentation, illegal consumption of alcohol after hours and altercations with the police — including ‘hostility’ towards officers.

A statement from Police Scotland was read out to councillors on the board and included details of an incident at the pub last month, when a pool cue was allegedly brandished at a female constable, causing her to become ‘alarmed and fearful’.

Mr Coyle, who was inside the bar at the time, denied the claims and said he had been playing pool with the person in question and that the cue was not brandished.

But Chief Superintendent Alan Spiers, divisional commander for Inverclyde and Renfrewshire, told the board: “Our officers are really highly trained.

“I would trust their integrity when they say a pool cue is picked up in a threatening manner.

“The person in question was arrested and reported.” The board heard that it was during this occasion that the axe was discovered lying on a table inside the pub.

But Mr Coyle said he ‘truthfully’ did not know how it got there.

Police said there was ‘no excuse’ for an axe to be in a licensed premises and a document they’d prepared for the board said that Mr Coyle appeared to be involved in incidents at the pub ‘on every occasion’.

Concerns were also raised about an illegal ‘tick list’ — where people pay for drinks at a later date.

It was said to have been found on the pub noticeboard, with the list of debts totalling nearly £50.

The incidents date back to October 2013 when the premises licence was granted.

Mr Coyle’s personal licence was rubber-stamped in August.

Ch Supt Spiers said: “The issue for us is we deal with a lot of licensed premises in Inverclyde and it’s seldom we deal with a licence holder that’s so hostile and obstructive with my officers.

“I have absolutely no doubt that the violence that started that night is connected to the licensed premises.

“It gives us some great cause for concern that nothing has changed.” Bill Tomlinson, the solicitor representing the bar and Mr Coyle, conceded that his client had made mistakes but issued an assurance that he would change how he runs the pub.

He said: “He won’t use this as a plaything, but will operate it properly.” But the board decided to suspend the Lynedoch’s licence for four weeks, to allow time for staff training to be carried out and a suitable manager to be found to replace Mr Coyle, who was deemed ‘unsuitable’ to continue running the bar.