The ex-landlady of a pub in Ebley has sought to set the record straight after fights on her watch meant she lost her job.

Lorraine Burns, who was removed as the designated premises supervisor (DPS) of The Coach and Horses by the council in a licence crackdown last month, has admitted she should not have lied to police about fights at the pub - some of which involved her sons.

But Lorraine maintains she dealt with each incident appropriately, whether it be banning patrons, kicking everyone out or even getting her son to pay for a window he smashed with a chair.

“The first lot of trouble we had in here I did lie to the police,” Lorraine said, referencing a fight between patrons in the car park in January last year.

“But the customers were both fine, they shook hands, and had a drink.

“Police say I didn’t ban anybody, but I did. I banned them both for two weeks.

“I did lie to the police though about reporting it and I shouldn’t have done that. But they had the fight and it was over and done with - they were friends again.”

It was this incident and eleven others in 2018 that led police to conclude the pub was unsafe and call on Stroud District Council to revoke its licence.

However, Lorraine says she was not given chance to explain her side of the story to the council, which reviewed the pub’s licence after a hearing last month.

On a fight involving her son in July, Lorraine said: “The CCTV clips they played at the hearing only showed my son splitting a pool cue in half and putting a chair through the window.

“But that’s because his girlfriend had wound him up, and he did all that in temper.

“I then banned my son from working at the pub for a couple of weeks and made him pay for the windows to be fixed, which he did.”

Lorraine, who stresses she was not at the pub at the time of this fight, added: “The council did not hear my side of the story at all. I wasn’t allowed to talk – only Jay, the owner, was, and he’s had hardly anything to do with the pub.”

Lorraine has suggested she and the pub have been unfairly targeted by police - something which the force denies.

She said: “They’ve been penalising me for both ringing the police and not ringing the police.

“The licensing officer kept coming in to the pub and one day I just asked him: ‘Have you got a problem with me and [the other manager] Terry? You’re always coming in and digging at us both.’

“He seemed to have it in for us all the time. And from what we can gather we’re not the only pub.”

In response, senior harm reduction officer at Gloucestershire Police David McFarlane said: “Our case has been through the council’s licensing review process and the decision has been reached by the hearing panel on all the evidence presented.

“We would like to reassure the community that we always act in the interests of the wider community and all decisions to take a licensed premises to review are made after final warnings, letters and advice given to the management.

"These premises had been subject to police concern for several years and previous licensees and managers were also advised.

“In regards to the comments about one of our officers, he took over the case from the previous licensing officer and was acting as part of the police’s licensing team, under the direction of myself and the force solicitor.”

In the end, instead of shutting down the pub entirely, the council ordered its licensee, Jamal Uddin, to get rid of Lorraine and hire a new DPS, cut opening hours, make sure pool cues are locked up, and ban staff from drinking on duty.

Lorraine continued: “All this about drinking - I’ve not drank on these premises unless I’ve had a day off.

“I never drink on the bar, I’ve never been paralytic in here.”

For the council’s part, a spokesperson said: “The council held a formal hearing to determine the police application for review which was conducted in compliance with prescribed statutory procedures, hearing evidence from police and from the licence holder represented by his solicitor.

“All valid and relevant representations were heard by the review licensing sub-committee and the papers relating to this hearing are on the council’s website for public inspection together with the decision notice.

“The licence continues in force with several licence conditions modified, in particular to curtail hours and in relation to the DPS.”

Lorraine had her last day at the pub on Monday - along with other lodgers who, Lorraine says, are having to leave to make way for the new DPS.

“I’ve lost my job now,” she said.

“This is a friendly pub. These incidents police have picked up on – they’re all very rare.”