A man from the United Kingdom suffered severe concussion and permanent facial scarring after he was assaulted at Hilton’s Pot and Barrel pub recently allegedly by a bouncer and two patrons.

Pot and Barrel co-owner Tristan O’Brien has said, however, that the man, Kyle Jackson, entered the venue “with a vendetta” and was “looking to fight”.

The incident happened in the early hours of May 4.

O’Brien added that the pub’s bouncer had “tried to calm him down” and denied the bouncer hit Jackson.

CCTV footage seen by Weekend Witness shows Jackson at the entrance of Pot and Barrel being held against a wooden fence by a man identified to the newspaper as a bouncer.

The bouncer appears to be talking to Jackson while a man comes from the side and punches him in the head.

Another man comes from the opposite side and also punches Jackson in the head while the bouncer continues to hold him against the fence with his back to the crowd.

Jackson (27), who lives in central London, runs his own finance company.

He told Weekend Witness that he was in Pietermaritzburg to look after his mother who was recovering from surgery, when the incident happened.

“I was sleeping when I got a phone call from my brother’s friend at 1.30 am, saying someone had stolen his phone and had thrown my brother on the ground,” said Jackson.

“I immediately got up and drove to Pot and Barrel to fetch my brother and try to find his phone.

“When I got there, he was quite rattled. He said he had been in a verbal argument with another patron and one of the bouncers ordered the two to ‘sort it out like men’.”

Jackson said his brother had pointed out where the bouncer and other patron were standing.

He then approached them and asked what had happened and if they knew who had taken his brother’s cellphone.

“They both became very confrontational and aggressive.

“There was a scuffle, they started pushing me and then the bouncer came from the side and punched me in the head,” he said.

Jackson said at that stage, there were three people attacking him: the bouncer, a patron and another man.

“I was being punched in the head, there was blood everywhere and people were screaming for them to stop,” Jackson said.

He said that CCTV footage shows him being held by the bouncer while two other men punch him.

Jackson opened a case with the police after receiving medical treatment.

He initially told Weekend Witness that he suffered a “cracked skull” but his medical records say he suffered from severe concussion and he also has permanent scarring on his face.

Jackson told Weekend Witness he wants the bouncer fired.

According to O’Brien, Jackson had been “on his way to settle a vendetta against a patron” when the incident happened, and that his younger brother was also at the pub.

O’Brien said one can see the punch-up on CCTV footage and he said initially that a “single punch” was thrown before the fight was broken up.

However, he later, in a follow-up phone call, conceded that he had not mentioned a second punch as he said it “did not connect” with any part of Jackson.

He said the bouncer involved had been working at Pot and Barrel for eight years and was tasked to break up fights.

“You can see [in the footage] he has his back to the crowd. If he wanted the guy to get hurt he would have turned him around,” he said.

He added that the bouncer was standing between Jackson and his attackers.

Provincial police spokesperson Colonel Thembeka Mbele confirmed that a case of assault with an intent to cause grievous bodily harm was opened by Jackson at the Hilton Police Station for investigation.

By Friday, no arrests had been made.