Oasis release their fifth album in the summer

Gallagher was drinking at the fashionable venue with his girlfriend, former All Saints star Nicole Appleton.

He was pictured in several tabloid newspapers leaving the bar and tussling with bouncers.

Police did not reveal who made the allegations, or whether Gallagher had been questioned, but the complaint is not thought to stem from a fracas with a bouncer.

"Police are investigating an incident that occurred outside the Met Bar at approximately 0015 GMT on 22 March 2002 after receiving an allegation of common assault from a member of the public," a spokesman said.

New release

A spokesman for the band said he did not know anything about the incident.

Gallagher is currently preparing to promote his band's hotly-anticipated fifth album, Heathen Chemistry, which will be released in July.

The band's first single for almost two years, The Hindu Times, comes out on 15 April.

The band are also preparing to play a number of major gigs this summer, including a headline slot at the T in the Park festival in Scotland and their own shows in Finsbury Park, London.