AN OXFORD nightclub has been ordered to shut down over the busy Christmas and New Year period to prevent drunken violence.

Magistrates imposed a two-month suspension on the Mood Cocktail Bar, in George Street, after incidents including a drunken brawl and a glassing attack that left a woman with serious facial injuries.

Last night, police said they were disappointed that the club’s owner Adel El-Baghdadi had not been stripped of his licence and forced to close the venue.

Oxford City Council’s licensing committee revoked the licence in June after hearing there had been 16 thefts, nine assaults and 30 calls for police assistance at the club in the previous 12 months.

But at an appeal hearing last week, magistrates quashed the council’s decision and ordered the club to shut down between December 1 and January 31, alter its interior and change its name.

Thames Valley Police licensing officer Tony Cope, said: “We’re disappointed the licence hasn’t been revoked and the decision made by the council upheld.

“But the police wanted a change of name to alert the clientele who caused the trouble that it is now a different venue.

“And a two-month suspension over Christmas and New Year is a massive financial imposition on any premises.”

Joseph Cannon, representing Oxford City Council, told the appeal hearing Mood had a history of crime and violence.

An order issued by the council in January last year to replace glasses with plastic vessels had been ignored, he added. In March, a girl wasbadly hurt when she was hit with a glass in a fight at the club, magistrates heard.

Edmund Walters, representing the club, told the hearing all licensing conditions imposed by the council had now been met and there had been no violence since the committee hearing in June.

The club now has new managers and Mr El-Bagdadhi had taken sole control of the licence, he added.

Mr Walters said: “It’s effectively a completely different operation and that’s shown on the ground by the lack of incidents.”

Mood will reopen under the name Room 29.

It also must install 10 small lockers for revellers to store their belongings due to a the spate of thefts and reposition its CCTV cameras to the satisfaction of the police licensing officer.

If the club fails to implement these conditions, the management faces a fine of up to £20,000.

And presiding magistrate Michael Day said: “Should anything untoward happen in the future, it’s most unlikely a court would be sympathetic.”

Mr El-Baghdadi, who also runs the Escape nightclub, in Oxford’s Covered Market, and a chain of sandwich shops across the city, was unavailable for comment yesterday.