Falkirk Licensing: Former Cheerz boss banned from Falkirk pub

Sergeant Malcolm O’May, of Forth Valley licensing department, told members of Falkirk Council’s licensing board on Wednesday that the police believed that Darren Scott Rae was continuing to manage Cheerz Bar, despite having surrendered his personal licence.

Mr Rae was convicted last year of sexually assaulting a woman and in July was given a community payback order and placed on the sex offenders register for 18 months.

Mr Rae was not present at the board meeting as the hearing was to establish whether there were grounds to review the premises licence of Cheerz. That licence is held by Good Entertainment Ltd, a locally run company that owns five pubs across the Falkirk district.

Sgt O’May told the board that Mr Rae had surrendered his liquor licence with immediate effect after his conviction. Despite that, however, he had continued to be seen on the premises, leading to reports from customers to the police and to Falkirk Council licensing staff.

Sergeant O’May said: “He was seen on the premises on multiple occasions and always quickly moved away out of sight of police. On one occasion officers were told by staff he was working as a glass collector.”

Police officers spoke to the property owners, concerned that Mr Rae still seemed to be the leaseholder in December 2022.

In January, the police were informed by the property owners that a new company had taken over the lease.

However, the police were concerned that the director of the new company was Graeme Rae, who they believed to be Mr Rae’s son.

Sergeant O’May told the board: “It is Police Scotland’s view that this lease does not prove that Mr Rae is no longer an interested party and does not prove that he no longer has management control over day to day running of the premises.”

A solicitor representing Good Entertainment Ltd stressed that the licence holders are landlords who have owned Cheerz for around 24 years, with no issues.

And he said that the fact that Mr Rae had been working on the premises did not make him an interested party in a legal sense.

“I’m not being flippant when I say this, but in terms of an ‘interested party’ my response is ‘so what?’ There’s nothing there to indicate management and control arising out of that statement,” he said.

The lawyer added that allegations that Mr Rae was still managing the premises were based “on perception” and said such accusations would be difficult to prove.

However, he added that away from the legal position, from a “moral standpoint”, he could understand that people were unhappy with Mr Rae’s continued presence.

To ensure that would no longer be the case, he said that Mr Rae had been served with two letters, barring him from the premises “to ensure there can be no doubt whatsoever that Mr Darren Rae is not welcome on the premises, nor can he enter the premises”.

“The current licence holders, who have shown themselves over a quarter of a century to be responsible people, have done everything they possibly can – and indeed arguably more than they have to do – to ensure Mr Rae is no longer gracing these premises.”

The board decided not to review the licence.