POLICE in Canterbury are applying to close down one of the city's most popular nightclubs after escalating problems with drunk and disorderly customers.

They have served a notice with magistrates asking for the revocation of both the alcohol, entertainment and special hours licences at the Bizz in Station Road East.

The hearing before the licensing bench is due on November 18 and is being contested by club owners Carol and Brian Jones. But it is likely to be adjourned to a later date.

Mr Jones said: "We are absolutely gobsmacked by this application because we thought we had a good working relationship with the police.

"We have been here for 15 years and always done our best to keep any problems to the minimum, even installing £3,000 worth of CCTV monitoring equipment on their advise.

"The revocation of our licences would effectively close us down with the loss of up to 60 jobs and a popular facility for young people in the district."

The police recently resisted an application by the club to increase the numbers of customers it allows in, which is currently set at 1,161.

The magistrates could revoke the licences or compromise by just withdrawing the special hours certificate which allows the club to stay open until 2am.