Strathclyde pubs: ditch glass or else

Police have warned Strathclyde pubs to ditch glass "as soon as reasonably practical" - or risk licence reviews if attacks occur on-site or nearby.

The warning comes in a stern letter to licensees from Assistant Chief Constable Ruaraidh Nicolson, seen by the Morning Advertiser.

It has met with concern, although there's some relief that the force appears to have backed down from its call in April for pubs to revert to toughened glass within six months.

The letter says: "In an effort to reduce the likelihood of serious injury to the victims of 'glassing' attacks it would be beneficial for premises, where practicable, to replace existing standard annealed glass drinking vessels with a safer product such as toughened glass or other recognised safety material.

"Future glassing incidents in or in the immediate vicinity of licensed premises will be carefully scrutinised by the police."

Where venues have made "no effort" to switch, "consideration will be given to applying to the Board for a premises review".

"I do not expect every glass drinking vessel to be toughened, but where there is an equivalent product [to glass] available...it would be expected that the premises would use the safer product.

"I would expect the change over to a safer product to be carried out as soon as reasonably practicable."

One well-placed source said the police have "back-tracked a bit" and "watered down" the plan because there's no mention of the six-month time frame for ditching glass.

Scottish Beer & Pub Association chief executive Patrick Browne said: "We are opposed to mandatory bans on glasses.

"We have advised our guys that when they get the letter they should be looking at their individual outlets and make a judgement and make a judgement as to what they'll be doing."