POLICE are challenging a decision by the council to keep one of Brighton’s oldest gay bars open.

Sussex Police are to launch an appeal against Brighton and Hove City Council licensing committee’s decision following their review of The Bulldog’s licence.

The council’s panel went against calls from the police to shut the pub for a month, instead opting to restrict The Bulldog’s opening hours.

Chief Superintendent Nev Kemp said: "I did not want The Bulldog to close, but I do want it to become a far safer place than it has been for too long now and I believe that without substantial improvements to the way in which it is run.

“It also has the potential of damaging the reputation of other licensed premises in the Kemp Town area, which I do not want to see either.”

He added: “The changes to the licence stipulated by the committee are in my view insufficient to ensure the improvements necessary and substantially reduce the plethora of breaches to the existing licence conditions over recent months along with some very serious incidents."

Police called for a four week closure, a licence condition required implementation of an electronic ID scanner and a closing time of 2am on Fridays and Saturdays.

The committee decided that they would reduce the hours to 2am with a 3am closing time, a closing time of 1am for a 4-week period and to not introduce the ID system.

Sussex Police were originally calling for the bar to have its licence revoked, but at a meeting on Monday they decided a one month closure would be more appropriate.

Police released a dossier detailing 48 incidents at the pub since January 2014 including underage drinking, drug use, fights, and sexual assaults.

Mr Kemp said: "I do not believe that these limited conditions, which fall well short of what was requested, adequately support us in reducing this clear risk to public safety and I am disappointed about that.

"So many alarming incidents have taken place at the Bulldog - including a very serious sexual assault of a 13-year-old girl after she was ejected from the premises just hours after the pub failed a police-led under-age test purchase operation - mean in our view that more impactive changes than those stipulated are needed.

"When comparing the size of this pub to other venues in the city, the number of offences is unacceptably disproportionate.

"Under the circumstances, and following discussions with colleagues, I have decided that the right course of action is for Sussex Police to take the unusual step of appealing this decision to the magistrates' court."