Birmingham City Council has rejected a new licence application for the Crane nightclub in Digbeth, where footballer Cody Fisher was fatally stabbed in 2022. The decision follows concerns from West Midlands Police and the victim's family about potential links to the venue's previous operators.
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00:00The Crane nightclub in Digbeth will not be reopening any time soon.
00:07That's after city councillors threw out a fresh application for a new licence,
00:11more than two years after 23-year-old footballer Cody Fisher
00:15was stabbed to death inside the venue on Boxing Day.
00:18The club's original licence was revoked shortly after the murder,
00:22but a new firm, Birmingham Limited, submitted a bid to bring the space back to life
00:26under different management, with promises of tighter security.
00:30They argued it would support the local economy and breathe new life into the area,
00:34but West Midlands Police strongly objected.
00:37They claimed the application wasn't as independent as it appeared,
00:41pointing to overlaps between the new bid and those previously involved in running the club.
00:46Officers said it risked undermining the original licence ban
00:49and that any restart before the appeal on that decision is settled would be premature.
00:55The applicant businessman Matthew Bolter admitted mistakes had been made
00:59describing one early meeting with police as a schoolboy error,
01:03but he insisted this was a brand new team, unrelated to those behind the venue
01:07at the time of the fatal incident.
01:10The council's licensing sub-committee rejected the bid outright,
01:13citing serious doubts about whether the venue could truly be detached from the past.
01:19The decision was welcomed by Cody's family,
01:22who've opposed any move to reopen the club since his death.
01:24A solicitor representing his mother said she felt her own life ended the night Cody was killed.
01:33This is not just a story about licensing,
01:36it's about accountability, memory,
01:38and whether a place so linked to tragedy can ever truly start afresh.