Mantra nightclub fined £1,000 for staying open after 1am

Popular Windsor town centre nightclub Mantra has been fined £1,000 for serving customers well beyond the required 1am closing time.

The Goswell Hill venue was also ordered to pay the Royal Borough's costs of £2,165 after the owners were found guilty of failing to comply with the planning breach of condition notice served on them in December 2009.

The notice requires Mantra not to remain open for the serving of customers after 1am on Friday and Saturday nights. However, evidence gathered by the borough's planning enforcement officers showed the nightclub regularly stayed open well after permitted hours.

After three abortive attempts to get the club owners to attend court, the case was eventually heard in their absence at East Berkshire Magistrates Court in Maidenhead on Friday 3 December.

Cllr Alison Knight, lead member for planning and development, said: "This is a victory for Windsor residents. There is a reason why planning restrictions are imposed and people living nearby, who have suffered from noise and street activity beyond the permitted time, expect them to be upheld.

"The breach of condition notice will remain in place and if the owners continue to breach it the council may be forced to take further enforcement action."

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