Hosts face curbs in Bournemouth

by John Harrington

Hosts in Bournemouth are being urged to take on extra responsibility for their surrounding area including routine checks for litter and damage to properties ­ as part of a new police-led accreditation and award programme for pubs and clubs.

They are also being asked to scrap all deals that encourage excessive drinking and to not advertise drinking as the main attraction at their venue.

The police, council and fire fighters are currently re-running inspections of pubs and clubs in the Bournemouth Borough, following on from the national Alcohol Enforcement Campaign in the summer.

As well as testing whether venues are complying with licensing laws hosts will be quizzed on how they take care of the "area of responsibility" outside their premises.

They will be expected to carry out routine checks for litter and damage to surrounding property, and to be in regular contact with residents and other local businesses.

In addition, they are asking for deals that are deemed to encourage speed drinking to be scrapped, and for happy hours to be restricted to the early evening. Licensees are also expected to adhere to the town's minimum pricing scheme.

Finally hosts will be expected to take "active participation" in Bournemouth's licensee-led Town Watch scheme, which operates a "banned from one, banned from all" policy.

Those who satisfy all of the criteria will be able to enter the new Bournemouth Best Bar awards, sponsored by Diageo, which take place next year. Venues that don't make the grade will be revisited every six months until they do.

Police spokesman Nick Cloke said: "If they are breaking legal requirements then we have the power to shut them down. If they don't want to [agree to the extra stipulations] then they will just never be accredited. These venues will certainly stick out as they will be in the minority."

Paul Marshall, general manager of the Opera House nightclub in Bournemouth, supports the drive to encourage pubs and clubs to take more care of their surrounding areas. "You go to McDonald's and Burger King and you find staff clearing up waste outside their front door," he said.

He also backed the proposals to restrict cheap drinks deals. He also said the council's policy of allowing the growth of too many licensed premises in the last couple of years had led many pubs and clubs to offer cheap deals.

"[The council] have been flooding the market with too many bars with not enough people to go around. Everyone has to keep their business running and competition is getting so fierce, that's why prices are kept at the bottom rate."