'Local authority clampdown has slashed alcohol-related trouble'
"Britain's worst town for binge-drinking has transformed itself after declaring war on drunken louts. Alcohol-fuelled violence was rife in Oldham, Greater Manchester. A fifth of the population drank at hazardous or dangerous levels. Now the local authority has won a battle to end the heavy-drinking culture and make the town a pleasant place for a night out again. The breakthrough came after local councillors imposed the biggest clampdown in Britain on pubs and clubs and drink deals encouraging boozing. The move has had a huge impact over the last year and could now be introduced in other towns." - News of the World
"Worried punters are getting the chance to order tests for sexual diseases - in the pub. Drinkers simply ask for a check-up at the bar, give a urine sample in the loos, then wait for the results. The bizarre NHS bar blitz is being carried out by sexual health charity the Terrence Higgins Trust in a bid to stem the rising tide of STDs like chlamydia and gonorrhoea. Last night Jacqui Redding, the Trust's director for Scotland, said: 'We're hoping that if it's successful, we could launch it across the country. It is a first for Scotland but has been carried out in various health boards in England.' NHS Highland launched the pilot - aimed at 18 to 25-year-olds - in pubs and clubs in Dunoon and Oban, Argyll." - The Sun
"There is much talk about the record level of pub closures, estimated at five every day. What is often overlooked is that many closed pubs and bars later re-open and new outlets are still appearing, albeit at only two or so per week… Furthermore, too many pubs are not in tip-top condition and many are too big. At one time most pubs were owned by brewers… Then the Government forced the major groups to cut their pub estates… Such a short-sighted policy eventually led to the elimination of Britain's top brewers - they are all now foreign owned - and the creation of the pub companies that have been devastated by the recession. I wonder if so many pubs would have closed if the old regime had not been decimated." - Derek Pain, writing in the Independent
"Convicted drug dealers could be banned from pubs with ASBO style orders. Labour wants to stop dealers from using pubs as a place to ply their trade, and the party hopes to introduce the ban in an amendment to the Criminal Justice Bill coming to the Scottish Parliament. Police could apply to the court for banning orders, which could apply to certain pubs or the entire country." - Glasgow Sunday Mail
"The debate over the decline of the British pub has been going on for a very long time. Victorian travel books are full of complaints that coaching inns aren't what they were… 20 years ago, as an aspiring Evening Standard feature writer, one of my first commissions was for a routine 1,500 words on the terminal ill-health of the London pub… Pubs today tend to fall into two categories: raucous beer-palaces catering for the smashed-out young, and poncified eateries full of middle-aged bores (not the insult it sounds - I am a middle-aged bore myself). It is no wonder that no one wants to go into them, or would sooner do his (or her) drinking at home." - DJ Taylor, writing in the Independent on Sunday
