Queer Junction: Sheffield club closed after staff member was stabbed in the hand is allowed to reopen

Queer Junction at the bottom of The Moor in Sheffield city centre was ordered to close following the stabbing last month. But after a licensing hearing on Tuesday, December 13, it was allowed to reopen with reduced hours. South Yorkshire Police said it had come to a ‘voluntary agreement’ with the gay club for it to close at 4am, rather than 6am, for a six-week trial. It said the agreement would be reviewed after this period.

Police said officers had been called to the club on Monday, November 21, at around 4am, where it was reported that a woman who had been ejected from the premises had returned soon after and an altercation had broken out between her and the door staff. “It is reported that a knife was produced by the woman, and whilst being restrained by door staff, one of the members of staff was stabbed in the hand,” a police spokesperson said.

South Yorkshire Police said last month that its analysis had shown Queer Junction and the neighbouring gay bar Dempseys, on Hereford Street, to be the ‘licensed premises associated with the highest volume of crime reports in Sheffield’. The force said that at both clubs a high volume of those reported incidents ‘involve violence and have included sexual offences and incidents involving weapons’.

Dempseys agreed to shut earlier at 4am ‘until further notice’ in response to what it described as ‘police pressure’, saying this was the ‘only option we have to ensure the continued survival of Dempseys after 22 years of operation’. Queer Junction had its licence suspended following the stabbing on November 21, pending the outcome of a review by Sheffield Council’s licensing sub-committee, which met on Tuesday to consider the case.

Luka Connor, aged 25, of St James’ Row in Sheffield, has been charged in connection with the incident on November 21 with one count of assault occasioning actual bodily harm and another count of threatening a person with an offensive weapon in a public place. She has been remanded into custody and will next appear at Sheffield Crown Court on December 19.