Police are urging councillors to strip a Chinese restaurant and karaoke bar of its licence after an underage girl said her drink was spiked there.

A report prepared for a licensing/gambling hearing at City of York Council seeks the revocation of the premises license of the Sky Blue Restaurant in the city's Barbican Road.

The hearing, originally due to take place in September, is now set for next week.

Police licensing manager Sgt Jackie Booth commented in a report: “16 Barbican Road York has a chequered history of non-compliance with premise licence conditions.”

Her report recalls of raft of inquiries and investigations concerning the venue in recent years, including when it was previously known as The Regency.

Previous matters included visits in 2017 and 2019 and on both occasions saw the removal of staff who were not legally entitled to work in the UK, the report said.

This followed 'multi-agency' operations involving police, Immigration and City of York Council.

The Regency then lost its licence in 2020 after reports that migrant workers were being paid as little as £2 an hour.

The report notes further breaches including a lack of CCTV records, CCTV not working, no incident book, and a lack of staff training records.

In April 2021, a new licence was given under the new name of Sky Blue Restaurant.

The applicant Kheng Koay promised to address previous issues with The Regency.

He replaced a Mr Man Leung, though the report says Mr Leung remains in management there, with day-to-day responsibility.

However, in January this year, as the Press has previously reported, police received a report of a 16-year-old girl who said her drink had been spiked.

Further police investigations found a raft of breaches including a lack of CCTV, record keeping and age verification, the report said.

The report, calling for councillors to revoke the premises licence, says Mr Koay has “failed to safeguard customers in attendance at his premises".

Sgt Booth added: “Mr Koay, despite knowing the history of the premises, has failed to take responsibility for the running of the premises and ensuring compliance with the premise licence conditions.

“He has shown a blatant disregard for the conditions attached to the premise licence, despite knowing the history of the premises, he has chosen to delegate responsibility or the day-to-day operation of the venue to Mr Leung. Mr Leung was part of the problem management which previously resulted in the revocation of the premises when it operated under 'The Regency'.

“Given the above failings the police have no confidence in Mr Koay to manage the premises effectively and ensure the licensing objectives are upheld.”

The licensing hearing will now take place next Thursday, November 17.

The restaurant has previously declined to comment on the hearing.