Soho Society chairman Tim Lord

A KNIFEMAN who stabbed two off-duty police officers in the early hours in Soho remains at large, as questions are once again raised about a late licensing crackdown.

A man arrested after the attack in Greek Street at 3.30am on March 17 has been released without charge, the Metropolitan Police Service said yest-erday (Thursday).

There have been reports of significant increased patrols since the attack but Soho Society chairman Tim Lord has questioned whether more needs to be done.

In a Soho Radio broad-cast, Mr Lord said the latest attack came on the back of years of late-night licences being granted against advice of the Society and the police.

In a despatch on the radio yesterday, he said: “It’s a really serious issue. As residents in the West End we try and stay home because, increasingly, it looks more and more scary.

“We see the tape up, and we steer clear. A lot of this is alcohol-related.”

The Extra understands that concern is growing among business representatives in Soho that the police officer stabbings may trigger a new crackdown on late licences.

Mr Lord said in the broadcast that there needed to be a balance between addressing the safety concerns and “scaring people away”.

And he added that the new Labour Westminster City Council should be congratulated for trying to address late-night, alcohol-fuelled crime in others ways; for example, new “safe havens” set up in the West End to protect women from sexual harassment.

Council deputy leader and cabinet member for communities and public protection, Aicha Less, launched the safe havens on the radio show yesterday, and picked Aretha Franklin’s Respect as one of her favourite songs.

“Respect is what we need,” she added.

While very few bars in other major European cities, for example central Paris or Amsterdam, stay open throughout the night, residents often complain that Soho businesses benefit from an anything-goes approach to licensing despite the West End being designated as a “cumu-lative impact zone”.

Last month the MPS objected, to no avail, to a late-night alcohol licence for Lio London, which is replacing the former historic Café de Paris.

In January the Extra reported that strip club Vanity Bar in Carlisle Street had its licence suspended after a series of allegations – rejected by the club management – from 10 people who said that they had lost £250,000 collectively in a scam, a city council report said.

In the wake of that story, Labour West End ward councillor Paul Fisher warned businesses, “…if you have an alcohol licence in Westminster, it is imperative that you treat the safety of your con-sumers as a priority”, and added: “If you do not, you will suffer the consequences.”

On March 17 police said they had held a man in a west London police station on suspicion of causing grievous bodily harm and possessing class-A drugs following the police stabbings.

On-duty officers were called by the London Ambulance Service to reports that a man had been stabbed and found the second injured man when they went to the scene.

The two men stabbed were later said to be off-duty officers who were that night out in Soho at 3.30am.

An police spokesman told the Extra yesterday that the man arrested for GBH had been released without charge.

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