A bar that was slapped with extra conditions after witnessing a double stabbing earlier in the year has had its application to push back last entry times to 1am rejected.

Last entry at Bloc 40 remains at midnight following representations from Essex Police which has said the condition for last entry of midnight as material to being able to legally enforce the new conditions.

The bar, which had sought to change the last entry time in application for a Temporary Event Notice (TEN), will be able to stay open until 3am.

The last entry time of midnight was imposed on the premises licence in September following an incident in which two men were stabbed at the bar.

The bar, which is based in Brentwood, had wanted to extend last entry to 1am for an event on Saturday 26 to 3am on November 27.

But this was rejected on the grounds it was too soon after the new conditions were imposed and police would have no kind of legal backing under the Licensing Act to take any action if the bar continued to let people in after 1am under an ‘undertaking’.

Gary Burke, Licensing officer at Essex Police, told Brentwood licensing committee: “At the moment it’s been too short of a time between those conditions being put in place and this coming weekend to make any changes to those conditions, especially leading up to the festive period when you would expect it to be a busier time for every premises anyway.

“So it’s even more important that all those conditions are applied as they are.”

The new conditions were imposed on the bar after two men, aged in their 20s, were left with with non-life-threatening stab wounds to their legs just after 1.20am on Saturday, May 29.

These include also a condition that the outside licensed area will have a screen installed along the wall to a maximum of two metres to prevent objects from falling off or being thrown.

Legal counsel Sam Haldane on behalf of Brentwood Council said: “The applicant seeks a last entry re-entry time of 1am.

“The committee considered carefully the difference in the proposed entry times but ultimately found that the police’s representations regarding conditions versus voluntary undertakings had merit.”

He added: “Having sought legal advice the committee resolved to impose the TEN with the full conditions that are on the original premises license.”