Council chief defends "tough" approach

By James Wilmore

- Last updated on GMT

Related tags Westminster city council Night-time economy London

Westminster City Council's leader has said he makes "no apologies" for being "reasonably tough" with the licensed trade, warning problem pubs will be...

Westminster City Council's leader has said he makes "no apologies" for being "reasonably tough" with the licensed trade, warning problem pubs will be shut down ahead of the 2012 Olympics.

Cllr Colin Barrow was addressing MPs, industry figures and lawyers at a seminar on "London's Night-time Economy in 2012" in the House of Commons yesterday.

He said Westminster - the UK's largest licensing authority - tried to adopt a "no-nonsense and straightforward" approach to licensing applications.

"We have to make sure a subset (of pubs) are not a problem, most are not," said Barrow.

"But the needs of everybody who uses the night-time economy is what we are paid to balance."

Leicester Square at 10pm, he said, feels "a dodgy place to be". He added: "It's a problem because it does not appeal to all the people it could do."

Barrow later suggested a system where drunks are taken back to the last place they were served could make "everybody's life easier". "We would deal with 90 per cent of the problems," he said.

However he acknowledged the Olympics represented a "huge opportunity" for the leisure industry and the council would offer "measures to support the industry".

Earlier Paul Smith, executive director of late-night operator trade group Noctis, said 2012 was the "single biggest opportunity for tourism in a generation".

He added: "It makes absolute sense to promote the industry and not demonise it and making it seem that every young person is a binge-drinker."

Brigid Simmonds, chief executive of Business in Sport and Leisure, told the seminar the Olympics could generate £2bn in tourism. "The Olympics is about having a party, but about having a party that goes on late and happens everyday," she said.

Later she said that late-night extensions was something the industry "ought to be thinking about".

The seminar was followed by a drinks reception in Portcullis House, where Noctis and Diageo launched a good practice guide for the night-time economy, and an "after-party" in Jewel Bar, Piccadilly Circus.

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