AN "unacceptably high" level of violent crime has been committed in and around Walkabout, a police analyst has told magistrates.

Det Con Derek Johnson was speaking at the bar's appeal against the council's order it should close later this month because of crime and disorder.

He said that between May 24, 2003 and March 31, 2005, the percentage of assaults at Walkabout was second only to Elements, which has a capacity almost three-and-a-half times larger.

He told the court that during this time, 73 assaults - 4.4 percent of all the assaults in the town centre - took place at Walkabout.

"This indicates an unacceptably high amount of violent crime at just one particular location and a violent crime problem that has been persistent throughout the period researched," he said.

He added that there were a further three crimes resulting in grievous bodily harm at the bar between April and September.

And Sergeant Chris Weeks, head of the town's alcohol enforcement team, told the court: "There was an occasion just a week ago, when a member of door staff came out with a member of the public in a headlock and rammed him into the railings."

But Derek Wiseman, a licensing consultant called in by Walkabout, said that because the police statistics recorded the number of victims, instead of the number of incidents, they could have been misleading.

"The danger with showing victims is that you may have a premises which has an affray in which 30 people are involved, and that's the only incident they have," he said.

"At the moment what you would have recorded is 30 incidents for that affray."

He added that Walkabout has a high throughput of customers coming though its door every night.

"Seventy-three incidents is a very low figure in actual effect."

First published: November 10