Responsible trade scheme gains popularity countrywide
A scheme aimed at ensuring more pubs trade responsibly is spreading rapidly across the country, three years after it was launched.
Cities across the UK are planning their own Best Bar None Awards, which have helped cut alcohol-related crime in Manchester and Croydon, Surrey.
Co-ordinator Jan Brown said that the scheme was now being "besieged by people who want to do it" from police officers, to councillors and licensees.
Under the initiative, which is an extension of Manchester's City Centre Safe project, bars must prove they are trading responsibly with effective policies on underage sales, crime, capacity, security, dispersal policies and fire safety.
A scheme recently went live in Accrington in Lancashire and Thameside in Kent, and more are planned for Edinburgh, Portsmouth and Liverpool.
One police officer has also claimed that such schemes will help city centres avoid becoming alcohol disorder zones (ADZs).
Ms Brown works for Greater Manchester Police but has also spent some time progressing the scheme with the Home Office.Police in Essex are setting up a countywide scheme, which they are calling the Safer Bars Awards.
Sgt Nigel Dermott, the licensing project manager for Essex Police, said: "I'd like to encourage responsible standards in pubs as I think they would be infectious.
"If an area is threatened with an ADZ, all premises would have to work towards an action plan. This fits in nicely."
Plan for ADZs
The government's plans for alcohol disorder zones (ADZs) could yet be watered down or scrapped altogether.
Although the Bill including the proposals has now received its second reading in the House of Commons, further consultation is being carried out.
Speaking at a conference in London, Andrew Cunningham, the civil servant who heads up licensing for the government, admitted: "Local authorities, the police and the industry are not entirely happy with these arrangements, all for different reasons. There will be further stakeholder consultation in the summer. This is quite unusual after a second reading. It is quite possible that it will shift ground on some of these issues."
