Police want to strip a Bradford nightclub of its drink licence following shootings and Drugs deaths.

Solicitors acting for West Yorkshire Police will apply to Bradford magistrates tomorrow to revoke the licence for the Planet Venus nightclub.

But closure of the nightclub - which is also used as a cultural centre by Bradford's Afro-Caribbean community - could create a dangerous vacuum, its users have claimed.

Tiny Goodall, president of the Manningham Afro-Caribbean Regener-ation project, said: "Planet Venus cannot be held responsible for people who bring their war on the streets with them. But by closing Planet Venus you are going to create a vacuum which could cause serious problems.

"Do they expect us to go to other ethnic or white establishments. Everybody has their own identity, so are they saying we can't have ours? In the interests of multiculturalism in Bradford it has to stay."

Delroy Dacres, chairman of the Afro-Caribbean Regeneration Project and the Sport Campaign Against Racism in Bradford, said: "It is not just a nightclub, but a meeting place for the Jamaican community for weddings, funerals, Christenings and Jamaican independence dances. Where are they going to meet if it closes?"

In December last year the club lost its entertainment licence for failing to achieve Drugswatch status. It is expected to start an appeal against that decision this week.

Chief Inspector Ray Shepherd, of Bradford South police, said a number of incidents in and around the club in City Road - including two shootings - had led to the move to revoke the licence held by Angela Minott.

"The fact that this club is frequented mostly by West Indian people is irrelevant as far as our decision to oppose the licence is concerned," he said. "If it was an Asian club, a Chinese club or a club frequented by mostly white people, our stance would still be the same."