Fury over blanket pub closures for football

Furious licensees in Doncaster could take legal action after police forced all town centre venues to shut amid fears of football violence.

South Yorkshire Police slapped closure orders on all the town's licensed premises in a bid to stop trouble erupting between visiting Leeds United fans and home supporters around last Saturday's derby clash.

However licensees are upset at the blanket ban during one of their busiest trading spells of the week - and the lateness that some of the closure orders were issued.

And despite the midday match being cancelled, due to a frozen pitch, pubs were still forced to remain closed until 4pm.

"It's appalling, our members have missed out on thousands of pounds in lost trade because of this action," said Dave Sissons, chairman of Doncaster Licensed Victuallers' Association.

"There could have been an easier way to do this, like arresting the troublemakers, than completely closing down the town centre."

Sissons claimed that around 60 pubs were affected and that many were not issued with closure orders until 10pm the night before the match.

"A lot of pubs had hired doormen for the day and still had to pay because it was too short notice to cancel them," he said.

Licensees are also upset that members' clubs escaped getting closure orders, Sissons added.

However a spokeswoman for South Yorkshire Police said licensees had been told well in advance that action would be taken.

"Most people went along with it and were happy," she added. "The decision was taken based on intelligence on the type of people that may be coming."

No date has been confirmed for the re-scheduling of the game, but the spokeswoman said it would be looked at "afresh" to decide whether similar action was required.