Incidents at The Blue Flower, in Earsham Street, Burngreave - formerly known as The Cactus Club - ranging from stabbings to a Wild West-style shootout, led to the premises being temporarily shut down by a district judge last August.

When the three-month closure order expired, applications were made for licences for one-off events.

But a full licence, in the name of Veronica Carr, of Pitsmoor, rather than owner Castel Fanty, was granted again in April, allowing alcohol to be served until 4am, after an "administrative error" by police led to officers not submitting an objection.

Now police are applying for the new licence to be permanently revoked - and point out the sale of alcohol breaches a condition of the lease agreement for land the club stands on, owned by the Duke of Norfolk.

Officers revealed a shocking nine-page dossier detailing past troubles at the venue - where even a bouncer was allegedly seen armed.

The catalogue of incidents include:

• The club being a "safe haven" for criminals. Customers included armed Yardie gangsters and people linked with guns and drugs from Sheffield and Manchester, who felt the club was a safe haven and openly displayed firearms.

• Drug dealing suspected around the club and Class A drugs seized in police raids, in which illegal gaming machines were also found.

• Serious violence, including stabbings, at the club. In one incident, a gangster knifed another, the fight spilled on to the street and one of the men tried to shoot the other. The gun jammed but then went off into the floor.

• Rival gangsters engaged in a Wild West-style shootout outside over a drugs debt.

• An "agitated" youth filmed on CCTV leaving the club brandishing a knife and carrying a CS gas canister.
  
  
  
  • one of the bouncers allegedly seen carrying a gun.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  • Pressure put on door staff to "relax" licensing conditions - such as a requirement to search customers and ensure drugs were not being used - to attract punters
  
  
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  • Owner Castel Fanty 'linked with criminal activity'.
  
  
  
  
  Another man, from Manchester and with links to gun and drug crime, claimed he was working as a 'promoter' for the club, and an event was arranged at the venue by a Birmingham gangster involved with heroin and crack cocaine dealing.
  
  Cactus Club opened as an illegal blues club in 2001 but obtained an official licence in 2005 - when Fanty claimed he had transformed the venue.
  
  He talked of staging drug awareness sessions for schoolchildren and holding a 'pop and crisps' night for 14 to 17-year-olds. But Insp Adrian McWalter said: "The club has become synonymous with gang activity, which brought the usual problems of drugs, violence and firearms issues."
  
  The police application is being made to a meeting of Sheffield Council's licensing committee on Tuesday.
  
  Insp McWalter admitted the force had mistakenly not objected to the new licence in April - which was granted despite a meeting between police and Fanty, where officers explained serving alcohol was against the terms of the land lease.
  
  He said: "South Yorkshire Police do not support the application for a premise licence at the Blue Flower."
  
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