Football fans face charges over bar brawl

Eighteen men have been charged with violent disorder following a fight in a Nottingham pub.

The fight broke out in Squares bar, just off the Old Market Square, on the evening of Saturday 17 March, and involved Sheffield Wednesday supporters who had been in the city for their club’s game against Notts County at Meadow Lane that afternoon, and men from the Nottingham area.

The bar was full at the time, with innocent members of the public getting caught up in the disturbance which flared up without warning.

Only one person was identified on the night, but after detailed analysis of CCTV from the bar, planned arrest operations in Nottinghamshire and South Yorkshire, and media appeals to identify others involved, a total of 19 men were arrested and questioned by Nottinghamshire Police’s football intelligence officers.

A total of nine men from the Sheffield area, aged between 25 and 47 years old, have been charged and bailed to appear at Nottingham Magistrates’ Court on Monday 17 September.

Another nine men from the Nottingham area, aged between 19 and 44 years old have been charged and bailed to appear at the same court the following day.

A nineteenth man, also from Sheffield, will be formally charged this weekend.