A CATFORD pub which counts Karl Marx as a former customer will have its licence reviewed after armed police were called in.

Officers were called to the Rushey Green boozer Goose on the Green in May after reports of a group of men armed with a knife and another man with a firearm.

According to documents to be discussed by a Lewisham Council licensing committee, door staff claimed there had been an altercation at the back of the pub but "they were too frightened to search individuals involved as they believed them to be armed."

A plain clothes dog unit was called and a police helicopter buzzed overhead while armed officers supported unarmed ones who went to the smoking garden to deal with the problem group.

Searches uncovered drugs, believed to be cannabis, and an extendable baton. Police claimed many punters were "heavily intoxicated" and the violence was "likely to be drug related".

Police made a closure order last month and the committee will consider adding a raft of new conditions to the pub's licence on Monday (July 1).