Tuesday February 24th 2026
Garibaldi's Nightclub, Hanover Street, Edinburgh
Written by Local Democracy Reporter, Joe Sullivan
An Edinburgh nightclub has been slapped with a warning as police expressed concerns it was frequently over capacity and younger people may be going inside.
Garibaldi’s, on Hanover Street, was forced by councillors to close for a month almost a year ago over similar concerns, and spent four months with a 1am terminal hour instead of 3am.
The nightclub changed ownership in July 2025, just after the restrictions on the nightclub’s closing time ended, but the issues seemed to resurface under its new boss, Adrian Cichy.
During Monday’s licensing board meeting, a representative of Police Scotland described concerns around overcrowding and the potential for young people to enter.
Police sergeant Grant Robertson said he was ‘reluctant’ to bring the nightclub back before the board, but felt it necessary when the service was ‘unable to make progress’.
He added overcrowding concerns were posing a ‘risk to public safety’, and that he was bringing the issues to the attention of the board should they want to take action.
He told councillors about an incident early in the morning of November 22 where a 16 year old with a Gari’s entry stamp on his wrist and a fake ID on his person was trying to enter.
The boy told police that others from his year group were inside the club, though Sgt Robertson said police were unable to confirm from CCTV whether under-18s were inside.
However, they did notice that door staff were not carrying out challenge 25 checks, and saw many ‘younger looking groups’ within the bar.
In another incident on December 13, a young woman became concerned that her drink had been spiked, and reported this to door staff.
Police say she alleged that the door staff shouted at her, and asked to leave, while the glass concerned was picked up, preventing further investigation.
Police review of CCTV footage identified that nothing was placed in the glass
In yet another incident, on November 16, Sgt Robertson said a huddle of people had been spotted outside the nightclub, which he said posed an emergency egress risk.
After being asked to fix the situation by police, door staff ‘initially had minimal control’ but ‘eventually managed to create something resembling a queue’.
And in two incidents on December 3 and January 18, police had concerns about the number of people in the club, with the first incident seeing staff unaware of the venue’s capacity.
During the second incident, door staff told police they had been ‘pressurised’ by the bar supervisor to allow more people inside the venue than was permitted.
Garibaldi’s has a capacity of 135, lowered from 180 in March 2025 – but in the January incident, door staff estimated up to 300 people were inside.
Prior to the police raising concerns to staff inside, the bar supervisor was seen to usher about 20 people from the premises.
Once inside, Sgt Robertson said officers found the club to be ‘overcrowded’ and ‘completely impassable’. Crowding concerns were also raised by police on January 24.
Sitting in the gallery before the hearing, Cichy, was dressed in a suit and purple tie.
After Sgt Robertson addressed councillors, Chichy and his licensing solicitor, Alastair Macdonald went to the deputation stand to present the club’s side of the story.
Mr Macdonald placed blame for many of the capacity-related incidents on the door staff, but that a new door staffing firm had been installed a few weeks ago, and incidents had since reduced.
Mr Macdonald added the company had been swift to respond when concerns were raised.
On the issue of the 16 year old with the Garibaldi’s stamp that had been found outside the venue, he clarified the teenager had never gotten inside the nightclub, and had reproduced the stamp on his own.
Further, he said Garibaldi’s had since switched to a system of date-stamped wristbands, which would be harder to fake.
On the matter of the young woman raising concern her drink had been spiked, Mr Macdonald said door staff were in the middle of removing someone from the club, and their yelling was not directed at the young woman.
Mr Macdonald said some change had come from switching to a student-focused clientele – while before the purchase it was about an even split between students and non-students, the club was now aiming to cater exclusively to students.
SNP councillor David Key asked how the venue tried to ensure those coming in were students.
Cichy replied that matriculation cards would be checked on entry, but that some non-students were sometimes let in.
Labour councillor Cammy Day challenged Mr Macdonald on whether the responsibility of dealing with the door of the premises fell with the door company or the club itself.
He asked the solicitor: “I get your point there that door staff should monitor queues, but ultimately they are employed by the company.”
Mr Macdonald replied: “Places employ door companies, who then door staff. So the door staff are not employees of the [club], they are employees of the door company.”
Cllr Day replied: “So your client has no responsibility at all?”
Mr Macdonald said: “I say that ultimately it’s the responsibility of the premises operator, but these are not their own staff.”
Councillors agreed to give the venue a written warning, and accepted a suggestion from Mr Macdonald that a personal licence holder be on premises for part of every night.
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