A POPULAR Chinese buffet restaurant and a Chinese wholesalers have had their licences suspended after police told councillors the premises were “associated with serious crime”.

Both the Banana Leaf buffet restaurant on Linthorpe Road and iChina Wholesale Limited on Victoria Street in Middlesbrough had their licences suspended following a behind-closed-doors hearing on December 13.

The decision to suspend the licences took immediate effect following a request from Cleveland Police for Middlesbrough Council to conduct a “summary review of two premises” which the force said were “associated with serious crime and/or disorder”.

Because the case forms part of an ongoing investigation, the meeting of the council’s Licensing Committee was held behind closed doors to prevent details being published that “would risk future proceedings”.

Nonetheless Middlesbrough Council has made public the minutes from the meeting in which the premises licences of both Banana Leaf and iChina Wholesale were suspended.

The notes said that the Licensing Act 2003 “provided a procedure for a summary review of a premises licence by the police which triggered a fast-track process to review premises where police considered those premises to be associated with serious crime and/or disorder”.

A sergeant told committee members that Superintendent Tariq Ali had issued a certificate under the 2003 Act, stating that in his opinion, “the premises was associated with serious crime”.

The committee went into a closed session after which, committee chairman, Cllr Ron Arundale, ordered that the premises licenses for both the Banana Leaf and iChina Wholesale be suspended with immediate effect.

On November 29, Ms Fang Li had applied to Middlesbrough Council seeking to amend the premises licence for the Banana Leaf.

If successful, the application would see the second floor of the Linthorpe Road building opened for “films, live and recorded music and performances of dance”.

The proposal is for the premises to serve alcohol and late night refreshment until 2am each day of the week.

Middlesbrough Council was unavailable for comment and so the progression of this application is unknown.

A spokeswoman for Cleveland Police said the force was unable to add any further details at this time.

A spokesman for iChina Wholesale Limited declined to comment. The Local Democracy Reporting Service has contacted the management of Banana Leaf for comment.