Jones explodes myth of 24-hour trading
A high-street bar-chain boss has called for a blanket terminal hour of 2am to be set for pubs to allay fears of 24-hour boozing and disorder when the new licensing laws come into force.
Mark Jones, chief executive of Yates Group, claimed that neither customers nor operators wanted 24-hour opening and has called for the Government to change the law to reflect this. The Department for Culture Media & Sport estimates that only between 1% and 2% of all licensed premises will apply for 24-hour opening, with the vast majority of those being large supermarkets.
"My view is if it is less than 1% or 2% who are going to do it, why bother at all?" he said. "If no-one actually wants it, the law should be changed to reflect this. Customers don't want 24-hour trading and nor do we."
Jones will only be applying for extensions in 30 or 40 of his 160 outlets and those extensions will be for a maximum of an additional two hours trading time. "None will be open 24 hours," he said. His comments come as a group of chief constables are due to meet Home Secretary Charles Clark to outline their concerns about the new licensing laws.
Meanwhile another chief constable, Mike Fuller of Kent Police, also expressed fears this week that the new licensing laws will fuel violence and stretch police resources while Tory leader Michael Howard said the laws make "no sense".
Fuller said: "At the moment a lot of violence and disorder quietens down around 2am. With 24-hour drinking I'm concerned that we'll see a lot of these problems just extended over a longer period."
