LEWISTON – The City Council took aim at Rock N Robins bar Tuesday night, giving the owner two weeks to corral rowdy customers.

Councilors tabled a plan to put bar owner Mike Berube on a three-month probation Tuesday night. They’ll take up the issue again at their Oct. 5 meeting.

Berube conceded that the Lisbon street bar has become a Thursday night hot spot in the Twin Cities, attracting hundreds of young customers. Police Chief William Welch said he has had enough and urged councilors to pull Berube’s special-use permit. The permit allows the bar to have dancing, DJs and comedy acts.

“I have to keep at least half of my force – my officers on duty for that particular shift – devoted to that club,” Welch said. “I just don’t think we should do it anymore. We’ve had calls for assaults, drunkenness and fights week after week.”

The last straw was an Aug. 27 incident that ended with an officer being assaulted, Welch said. Police had to respond to a near riot with drawn clubs and Mace, he said. The bar has had 106 calls for service in the past year.

“That’s just ones that were called in,” Welch said. “We’ve had to keep officers there and others didn’t get recorded. As far as incidents there, I’d guess it’s 10 times that amount.”

Welch said police had recorded two hours of videotape of disorderly crowds outside the bar. He gave councilors single-frame snapshots taken from the tape.

Berube downplayed the call report, noting that at least 20 calls were normal checks police do of bars. Others were police calls in the vicinity of his bar and not related.

However, he conceded that 14 calls were for assault, 17 were in response to fights and another 12 were disorderly conduct complaints.

“We only have a problem one night out of the week, and we are working very hard to solve it,” Berube said.

The bar unexpectedly became popular on Thursday nights this summer, he said. He has responded by replacing one bouncer with a staff of eight and has done what he could to limit the crowds.

It’s just the nature of the business, he said. “This is what happens when you mix liquor and crowds.” The city could face similar problems at the Colisee once it begins attracting crowds, he said.

That comment angered Mayor Lionel Guay.

“This has nothing to do with liquor sales at the Colisee,” he said. “When the Colisee comes in here with 106 calls, I will personally pull their liquor license.”