Ultimate ends paid for police presence

Ultimate Leisure has ended its £100,000 two-year paid-for policing experiment in New-castle - at the request of the chief constable, Michael Craik.

The nightclub operator had been voluntarily spending £1,000-a-week since 2003 to pay for two policemen to patrol the Bigg Market area of Newcastle on Friday and Saturday nights.

But in July, Craik told Ultimate that he would prefer that the company helped the police by providing it with intelligence on drunken yobs rather than pay for policing.

Former Ultimate chief executive Bob Senior said: 'It showed that the police force is a disparate group of individuals. One chief constable told us he welcomed our contribution while another one doesn't want it.'

Craik has been praised by operators for comparing the problems caused by drunken yobs to football hooligans.

He said: 'Fifteen or 20 years ago, we had huge problems with football hooliganism.

'Where is that now? We made that go away by using intelligence and by being proactive.'

Meanwhile, Ultimate is still forking out £45,000 a year to pay for two policemen to stand at the door of its Coyote Wild premises in Mansfield.

The contribution is being made as a result of police pressure - they closed the club for a night earlier this year.

Mark Jones, who replaced Senior as Ultimate boss in August, said: 'I'd rather see them patrol the streets giving a visible message that the streets are safe and under control. There isn't a problem at our premises.'