Violence puts paid to Lloyds No1 late licence

By Phil Pemberton and The PMA Team One of JD Wetherspoon's busiest pubs, the Lloyds No1 in Glasgow's West George Street, has been forced to shut early after licensing chiefs took action following a number of violent incidents at the venue. The city's licensing board has refused the pub permission to open until midnight and it can now only trade until 11pm. Police detailed more than a dozen incidents over the past year in the 1,200-capacity pub, which is rumoured to take as much as £100,000 some weeks. These included an occasion where a young person was disfigured for life after being bitten on theforehead. The board was also told that last May, an off-duty female police officer was assaulted in the pub and staff told her that she would have to seek police help herself. Licensing board chairman Councillor Gordon MacDiarmid, said: "It is absolutely clear that these problems are down to a failure in management." Further issues identified by police were complaints from customers about assaults from the bar's security staff and tables found littered with dozens ofbottles and glasses which could have been used as weapons. JDW has responded to the criticism by instigating an action plan to counter the problems. David Isaac, director of legal services for the company, said: "We have recruited a new security firm and increased the overall number of staff working at the venue. "There has been a change in the door policy, with a strict over-21s requirement now in place and we are actively looking at other issues such as introducing plastic bottles and lowering the capacity of the pub." l JD Wetherspoon has seen like-for-like sales increases accelerate to 4.9% in the 25 weeks to 18 January, up from 4.2% in the company's first quarter. Finance director Jim Clarke said food and wet sales had enjoyed equal rises, a contrast to the past two years when food sales had led the way. JDW is to further reduce the number of new openings from 35 to 30. The current opening programme is in marked contrast to hopes expressed by chairman Tim Martin just two years ago to operate an estate of 1,500 pubs. The current estate totals 640 outlets. The company points to "delays in licensing and planning permissions and a cautious approach to new sites", for the latest reduction in its openings programme.