The owner of a Croydon nightclub allegedly banned by police from playing Jamaican music has claimed other venues have been given similar orders but were “too scared” to speak out.

Roy Seda, owner of Dice Bar, said he felt “victimised” and “bullied” by officers who told him his High Street venue played “what this borough finds unacceptable forms of music”.

Police are said to have asked him to play commercial pop music instead of bashment - a genre performed by artists including Sean Paul and Shaggy.

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Mr Seda, who opened Dice Bar with his wife Farrah in 2012, said licensing officers had pressured him to stop playing bashment because it “attracts a certain type of person”.

He said: “What they like is commercial music - chart pop - and I think that type of music attracts a certain type of person and I think that is what they want in Croydon.”

Speaking today for the first time today since the row broke out, the borough commander of Croydon police denied the force was guilty of racial profiling but admitted some venues had been told not to hold “specific events”.

Chief Superintendent Andy Tarrant claimed Mr Seda had volunteered to stop playing bashment music, adding: “The onus has always been on Roy to come up with ideas about how he might reduce the incidents of antisocial behaviour, disorder and crime associated with his premises.

“It wasn't just music, this was one of a series of measures that he implemented to address the issues associated with his premises.

“There were a number of different measures he implemented, for example around his dress code and door policy.”

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But Mr Seda rubbished the suggestion he had volunteered to stop playing Jamaican music.

He told the Croydon Guardian: “Why would I come forward to talk about it if it was my idea?

“When your back is against the wall and they are telling you, ‘change something or we have the power to close you down,’ you sell your soul basically.

“There is no benefit to us, we lose business, we lose customers, we have to deal with stress explaining to people why we are not playing certain music, so it is not in our interest to ban any type of music

“They will argue that there have been minor incidents at those venues and that’s why they have been told not to play that music, but what about the venues that don’t play bashment but play 80s or 90s pop music. They have incidents just the same but they aren’t told, ‘Don’t play pop music’.”

He said other Croydon venues were put under pressure to stop playing certain genres of music by the police, but added: “They know if they speak up they are going to get picked on, they are going to get bullied and that is not nice.

“Should people be scared of actually speaking up?

“Other clubs don’t want to talk and go on record and I think there needs to be a council scrutiny meeting as soon as possible so that people do feel like they are able to talk in a forum.”

The police have asked Croydon Council to review Dice Bar's licence, claiming in their application that the club is "associated with persistent crime and disorder" and “patrons and police officers have been put at risk of harm".

In response to police concerns, Dice Bar has already reduced its capacity to 175 on a Friday night, banned banning trainers, hats and hooded tops and raising the minimum age for entry to 21.

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Chief Supt Tarrant said: “We are absolutely committed to trying to help the licensees because we don't want people coming to Croydon and feeling like it’s a place they don't want to visit or work in, but we have to make sure that we also enforce the law and where we have disorder and serious incidents taking place then we have to deal with that.”

He said he advocated dress codes at venues because he believed “formally dressed” people were less likely to “get in a fight”.

The borough commander added: “We know that if people aren't properly dressed there is this issue about them potentially contributing to anti-social behaviour.”

A date for the licensing hearing is yet to be set.

Has your venue had a similar problem? Call the newsdesk on 020 8722 6307 or email andrea.downey@newsquest.co.uk