HEARTBROKEN relatives of Ryan Passey who was fatally stabbed at Chicago's say they are "extremely disappointed" the Stourbridge nightspot is to re-open before the popular footballer has even been laid to rest and they are urging pub bosses to rethink their decision.

The Ryemarket bar, where 24-year-old Ryan lost his life in the early hours of August 6, has been given permission to re-open from next week after a licensing review.

Stourbridge News:

Dudley Council licensing chiefs gave approval last Thursday (August 24) for the late night boozer to re-open - after a temporary licence suspension in the wake of the tragedy - providing the venue complies with stringent conditions aimed at keeping partygoers safe and preventing a further tragedy or serious incident.

Ryan's devastated family said the bar had been “negligent in its responsibilities” and the decision to allow it to re-open was "shocking".

At the council’s licensing meeting - Charles Streeten, barrister for West Midlands Police, stressed the venue would not re-open until police were satisfied with the safety measures - and James Rankin, for Deltic which owns Chicago’s, said he was "sorry" about what had happened.

Stourbridge News:

But calls from Ryan’s family for the venue to stay shut until at least after his funeral were ignored.

They said afterwards: “We are extremely disappointed with Chicago's for not honouring the request to remain closed until we have been able to put Ryan to rest.

"Clearly their focus is about sales, putting commercial decisions above doing the right thing. Another example of big businesses doing the wrong thing.

“We would like to thank everyone who has offered support during this very sad time and the thousands of people who signed the petition to close Chicago's, but unfortunately this made no impact on the outcome.”

And they said they “would like to give the Deltic group, owners of Chicago’s, another opportunity to sympathise with us and do the right thing and keep the club closed until after the funeral as a mark of respect to Ryan” as the much-loved Wren’s Nest midfielder’s funeral would likely not take place until late September as the results of a second autopsy were still awaited.

Chicago's is, however, expected to close on the day of the young footballer's funeral - a date for which has not yet been confirmed.

New licensing conditions for Chicago’s stipulate every other customer who enters the venue must be searched, with the use of metal detection wands.

Other conditions include alarming all fire escapes, not permitting customers to re-enter the venue unless they pay again and comply with search procedures, applying a one in one out policy when the bar reaches capacity, CCTV cameras to be upped from 16 to 32 and positioned to the satisfaction of police, a formal search area to be created in the premises and extra door staff on duty when the bar is at capacity.

At least one female member of door staff should also be on duty, staff must also complete first aid training and first aid kits are to be held on the premises, no alcoholic drinks are to be sold in glass bottles and management must carry out random CCTV reviews every three months and if staff are seen failing to comply with conditions police must be notified.

Kobe Murray, aged 19, of The Broadway, Dudley, has been charged with Ryan's murder and is due to appear at Birmingham Crown Court on September 5.

  • A charity event in memory of Ryan is to held at the Abraham Darby (Wetherspoons bar) at Merry Hill this Saturday (September 2) from 10am.

There will be a bouncy castle, raffle and facepainting for children.

Organiser Karen Carrington said she wanted to do something to help Ryan's family and she added: "I've been amazed at the generosity of shops in Stourbridge and Merry Hill that have donated for the raffle.

"We're hoping it's going to be a good day."