A BELMONT pub is in danger of losing its licence for having a "flagrant disregard for the law" after police raided an illegal lock-in.

Police were called to The Lough Inn close to midnight on Saturday, May 17, after reports of a disturbance.

The pub shutters were pulled down, but police found around 40 people inside, many of them drunk, who were shouting, swearing, and being "aggressive towards each other".

An ambulance had already been called to treat a man suffering from serious head injuries, and officers said they found the manager was drunk and unable to keep order in the pub.

The manager had tried to get a special licence for that bank holiday weekend to hold a three-day birthday party for up to 199 people.

When the application was refused, the pub threw the birthday bash regardless behind closed doors.

CCTV footage from the party shows drinks being served after hours and without a licence, bar staff and customers smoking inside the pub, and "large scale fighting/disorder" breaking out just before the police arrived.

Sergeant Carl Davis, of Harrow Police, reported the pub, in Belmont Circle, and asked for the council to revoke its licence.

He wrote: "It is apparent that those in management and control of the premises have a flagrant disregard for the law."

He highlighted the way the pub ignored the rejection of its application for a special licence, saying: "This mismanagement has led to serious crime and disorder, public nuisance and the loss to the public of their safety."

Local police officers have had complaints from residents on other occasions, about large groups of people going to the pub and getting "excessively drunk".

On September 15 last year, five officers had to go to the pub after reports of drunk men jumping on cars and fighting following a birthday party.

Then on March 8 this year, a bare knuckle brawl broke out at the back of the pub after a drinking session involving around 80 people.

And on June 1, officers were called to the pub again after a man is alleged to have pushed his wife to the ground and kicked her repeatedly.

The pub managers must now face a committee of Harrow councillors to try to persuade them not to revoke their licence.