Yorkshire Police back staggered closing
Police and councillors in a Yorkshire town are convinced that longer opening hours would stop clashes between "huge gangs" of drinkers and residents.
Chief Inspector Nick Smedley, district commander for Skipton, is urging the government to allow staggered closing times which he says would prevent trouble caused by the amount of people spilling onto the streets at closing time.
Speaking at a meeting of the Skipton area committee, a group set up by the local authority, Ch Insp Smedley admitted that the streets were plagued by late-night revellers but told residents that evidence from New Year's Eve proved that later, staggered closing resulted in very little trouble on the streets.
He was addressing residents' concerns about the late-night brawls and his views were supported by local councillors and licensees.
Matt Dexter, manager of the Black Horse pub in Skipton High Street, said: "There are no pubs with a late licence in the town, so everyone spills out onto the street at the same time, many of them going onto nightclubs.
"If those who just want another pint or two could stay in the pub, you wouldn't get the crowds and a lot of the problems could be avoided."
Ch Insp Smedley told the meeting he hoped to step up patrols in the problem areas. There are also plans to consider laws to ban drinking in the streets and use CCTV footage to crack down on offenders.
Skipton's problems are similar to those in towns and cities across the country. The pub industry has been calling on the government to extend opening hours to prevent the 11.30pm flashpoint which leads to over-loading of public transport, over-crowding in fast food restaurants and trouble on the streets.
The Publican's Market Report 2002 showed that more than half of all licensees (52 per cent) believed that violence on the streets had got worse over the last three years and in the majority of cases pubs shoulder the blame.
The Queen's Speech is set for November 13 and the trade is optimistic that the Alcohol and Entertainment Bill will be included. This will make provision for flexible opening hours which could be implemented by 2004.
