A Birmingham pub in which a man drank himself to death has been shut down by the city council.
The Gunmakers Arms, in Birmingham's Aston district, has lost its licence after it emerged a barman failed to call an ambulance for a severely drunk customer who later died on the premises.
Birmingham city council's licencing committee ruled it had "no choice".
A police report, which recommended the pub lose its licence, said that the man – identified only as Mr P – arrived at the pub on 9 December and drank large amounts of cider and spirits, including downing half a bottle of Jack Daniel's from behind the bar, the Birmingham Mail reported. The man "became aggressive", before falling unconscious.
Bar supervisor Radoslav Halabrin reportedly propped Mr P up in a chair, put wet towels on his head, and took pictures of him.
Superintendent Andy Beard of West Midlands police wrote in the report: "When all the customers had left and the pub was closed Mr P was still unconscious. Mr Halabrin placed Mr P in the recovery position and left the premises to get himself some food.
"On returning from having a meal inside the takeaway Mr Halabrin found Mr P had died. It was at 1.48am that an ambulance was finally called."
The report added that Mr P had an pre-existing heart condition, but his alcohol intake contributed to his death, which police described as preventable.
A coronor's report, which was also included in the police evidence, quoted Halabrin saying that before calling the ambulance, he sat the man up against a radiator.
"We returned around half an hour later and he was still on the floor," he said. "We took his hand and it was cold, so we sat him up by the radiator and tried to wake him up. But he did not respond. We then called for an ambulance."
Halabrin described the man as "a friend as well as a customer" and said he had "no reason to believe his life was in danger", the Birmingham Mail reported.
Halabrin also claimed he offered to call the man a taxi and said he took photos of him to show him "how bad he was" the next day.
In a separate investigation, Trading Standards found unlabelled bottles of spirits in the cellar and a clear spirit with an ABV of 50%, according to the pub trade newspaper Morning Advertiser.