Towns are turning into 'drinking factories'

A new drinking culture is turning suburban town centres into violent "no-go" areas, a top police officer warns today.

Sir Ian Blair, the Metropolitan Police deputy commissioner, has hit out at the trend for so-called "drinking factory" pubs. He claims it is turning parts of the West End and towns such as Richmond, Croydon, Romford and Kingston into battlegrounds on Friday and Saturday nights.

Sir Ian calls on clubs and pubs to pay for the extra cost of policing yobbish behaviour caused by binge drinking.

Writing in the New Statesman magazine he says police welcomed the change in licensing laws, which will allow premises more flexible opening hours. But he adds: "Unfortunately, the change has coincided with the discovery-by the retail licensed trade of drinking factories.

"Many traditional pubs are being stripped out, with seats removed to provide a venue for 'vertical drinking'. Large retail premises, previously not involved in this trade, are being converted into huge bars.

"Friday and Saturday nights in some town centres have become no-go areas for anyone not interested in drinking until they are drunk or who are over 25."

In Romford alone, it is estimated that 13,000 drinkers spill out onto the streets after closing time on Saturday nights. And in one recent incident, in

the early hours in the West End, 250 young men were involved in a drunken fight with the handful of police officers available to deal with them.

Sir Ian adds: "More and more officers are required to deal with the consequences of people drinking into the early hours, to the detriment of the legitimate needs of other citizens.

"With changes to licensing, the large outlets will employ more security staff and throw more drunken people out on the street, so as not to risk losing their licences. The police will have to pick this up and it will be impossible to tell which group of fighting males came from which pub in order to invoke licensing sanctions."

Sir Ian did not name any bars or clubs but the venues he is referring to are believed to include chains such as Walkabout inns, Jumpin Jak's and Chicago Rocks.

With their limited numbers, police are reluctant to arrest drunken offenders because it takes officers off the streets. They have welcomed new fixedpenalty tickets for drunken behaviour, but found them difficult to administer because people are often too inebriated to accept them.

Sir Ian says: "We need to talk to the Government and to local authorities about what should be done. For a start there is a principle called 'the polluter pays'.

"We will have to develop a regime where large drinking establishments are treated differently from smaller ones, with the considerable profits made in them being slightly offset by a direct charge for additional policing."