Multiple people say they have been spiked at Dover Castle Bar over the last two weeks

Mutliple students have come forward as victims of spiking at the Dover Castle Bar in London Bridge, a pub popular with KCL students, with five women saying they were spiked on Friday night alone.

The Dover Castle has acknowledged the events on their Instagram page, saying they are “deeply sorry that this has happened” and telling the London Tab they’ve been “installing new CCTV and more cameras since Tuesday”.

When contacted for a statement, the Metropolitan Police only had one incident on record on 2nd October, saying: “There have been no arrests. Enquiries are ongoing.”

Of the multiple victims, the London Tab managed to reach out to five to ask for victim statements of their experiences being spiked in the Dover Castle.

Anita*, who turned 21 on the night she says she was spiked, Friday 1st October, said: “I arrived at the pub at 11:15pm and had one double gin and tonic which I held for around 45 minutes. In this time I circulated around the bar saying hi to my friends and had a free shot with one of the new bartenders.

“I remember up until 12:00am, at which point we had birthday cake, and I finished the same gin and tonic before feeling really unwell. I told my boyfriend I was going outside for air and he came with me, at which point I started violently throwing up and became limp.”

“There was another girl who had been spiked prior to my arrival that night and nothing was done by the bar. Two girls I know had also been spiked in the weeks before and nothing was done then either. All of the girls who have been spiked that I know of have been part of KCL/GKT netball and women’s rugby societies.”

“I have been to the Dover Castle countless times and I was even asked if I’d just “had too much to drink”, but I am frequent drinker and one drink would never put me in that state. I also felt significantly worse when vomiting.”

She said it was “unclear” what the attacker’s intentions were, as the victims “have always been surrounded by friends” and she hadn’t heard of “anyone being taken advantage of or robbed.”

A group of friends at Dover Castle Bar

A week and a half before this incident, Phoebe* says she was spiked. She said: “I arrived at DC just before 8.00pm on 22nd September and I was there with two other friends. From around 8.00-11:30pm we drank a few vodka lime sodas and a shot (served to us at the same time each time we got a drink).

“All three of us have a similar tolerance, drank the exact same drinks, and my friends felt completely fine all night, barely tipsy. I was completely fine up until 11:30pm, then within five minutes said I felt really sick and went to the toilet.

“I had been gone a while so my friends checked up on me, finding me on the bathroom floor in a “very drowsy state” and “completely out of it”. They said I had gone from fine to “concerningly unwell” in a matter of minutes, and I’d told them I was scared. They said I had “no control over my legs and was unable to stand”.

Staff members at Dover Castle Bar, @dovercastlepub on Instagram

The Dover Castle Bar said they’ve been in contact with the police numerous times in the last week, and are taking safety precautions, and awareness, very seriously going forward, including “searches on the door”, providing “covers for glasses if people want to use them to feel safe” and “posters about spiking”. CCTV is also to be shown “on big screens late at night”, which will hopefully “deter anybody from ever doing this again.”

The owner told the Tab: “I’m disgusted this happened in Dover. I’ve had this pub for 12 years now and have always had a very strict policy on drugs, and this shook me.

“I have dealt with more sports teams and students over the last 12 years than I can remember, and many of them have always said how safe they are made to feel by bouncers and staff, as we do our best on the door to not let people in that are not suited to my establishment.

“We will do everything to make sure it doesn’t happen again, and that’s the most important thing. The people that did this are horrible people, and they’re not just operating in the Dover Castle. It happens in many places, and we need to try and stop this horrible crime everywhere.”

The full police report said: “On 2nd October, police received a report from a woman in her 20s that her drink had been spiked with an unknown substance when she attended a pub in Great Dover Street, SE1. The incident was reported to have taken place between 22.00hrs and 23.20hrs on 1st October.”

*The names of the victims in this article have been changed for privacy reasons.

Related stories recommended by this writer:

• Priti Patel announces inquiry into how Wayne Couzens kept his Met Police job

• Women have spent this week terrified – that won’t end now Sarah’s killer is locked away

• Emily Ratajkowski accuses Robin Thicke of groping her