Fire above Church Inn

A mattress was set alight in a bedroom above a Lancashire pub on Saturday. Firefighters using breathing apparatus spent an hour putting out flames above the Church Inn in Lowton. Two occupants of the pub were given medical treatment after breathing in smoke. Bow host enters plea A licensee charged with murder after allegedly shooting dead a teenager outside his own east London pub pleaded not guilty at the Old Bailey on Friday. Anthony Shepherd, 44, of Bow, is accused of shooting Lee Chesaites outside the Prince of Wales pub after closing time on 1 November last year. Chesaites, and some friends, had been in a noisy dispute with a group of women before he and a friend were picked up by his father Anthony, who drove back past the Prince of Wales. The victim was shot when he got out of the car and pronounced dead on arrival at the Royal London Hospital. Shepherd has been remanded in custody to appear before the Old Bailey on 1 December. SDA gains green light A controversial plan to build a new pub and housing complex in Oxford will go ahead despite a warning from the police that it could become a hot-spot for crime. Oxford City Council gave pubco, SDA, permission to demolish the Fox pub in Barton and replace it with a new pub and 37 flats. But speaking at a committee meeting, crime prevention officer Roger Hampshire said: "This type of pub relies on passing trade ­ but the design would not attract passing trade. "That can lead to pub managers extending drinking times to unlawful hours, and there is the possibility of it becoming a no-go area for the public and even the police." Nikolas Lyzba, planning consultant for SDA, said that its proposal would make much better use of the land than it does at present. Police bid to curb youths Licensees in part of Warwickshire are being urged to help police cut rising violent crime by targeting the young drinkers in the region who have turned town centres into no-go areas. Crime figures released last week showed that incidents of violent crime in Nuneaton and Bedworth increased from 1,194 to 1,717 in one year. Chief Inspector Graham Moreton, who heads policing in the area, said that alcohol and anti-social behaviour were at the root of many of these problems. He said: "Our aim this year is to persuade our young drinkers that violence is unacceptable. "I will be looking to the pub trade for their support in managing under-age drinking in the town centres." Fined after pool fight An offshore worker who hit another man with a pool cue at a pub in Aberdeenshire was fined £1,750 last week. Nicholas Huldal had been drawing attention to himself before shouting: "Do you want to see some action?" and striking fellow drinker Christopher Watson at the incident in March, Elgin Sheriff Court heard. Huldal, who was jailed for two years for assault in 1999, was ordered to leave the pub and police were called. Stephen Carty, defending, said that Huldal remembered an assault taking place, but could not recall making the comment. Driving ban for brewer A real-ale brewer has been banned from driving. Andrew Murdo Ribbens, who runs the Hebridean Brewing Company, was fined £150 and banned from driving for three years at Stornoway Sheriff Court after pleading guilty to driving while over the legal limit. Iain Maciver, defending Ribbens, said his client had used his van to transport a present to a wedding, which he was attending. Afterwards he decided to move it from the reception as there were teenagers hanging around it. Sheriff Ian Inglis accepted the van had been moved for safety reasons, but disqualified Ribbens for three years due to a previous drink-driving conviction.