- Bexley's use of new powers under the Licensing Act, to crack down on anti-social drinking, have been stepped up. Councillors are homing in on the borough's three major troublespots of Bexleyheath and Welling town centres and Bexley Village to bring in tighter controls on licensed premises. On Monday it launched a three-month consultation on whether to bring in a "saturation policy" under the Act to apply to all three areas. A saturation policy would allow the council's licensing committee to refuse any new drinks licences to premises within the three specified areas, and refuse any material changes to existing licences. News Shopper If the consultation is on Bexley's website, I can't find it.
- A shopkeeper has been cleared by London's High Court of selling alcohol to a child, leaving Cambridgeshire County Council thousands of pounds out of pocket. The drink was sold in a test purchasing operation by shop assistant Aziz Gholi Mehdipour who had been working in the store for about a month. But trading standards officers believed the shop owner Fikri Kama, who was not on the premises at the time, had not done enough to ensure staff knew the law. Kama was cleared at Cambridge Magistrates' Court in May but the council was not satisfied so it took the case to the High Court, arguing Mr Kama should have kept a "refusal book" in which staff could log that they had turned away underage customers to prove his policy was being carried out. Now Mr Justice Treacy, sitting with Lord Justice Waller, has thrown out the case saying magistrates' were "perfectly entitled" to have acquitted Mr Kama. Cambridge Evening News
- Pubs will be allowed to stage poker games in the latest twist of Labour's liberalisation of the laws on drinking and gaming. Laws that have banned games of chance played for money from pubs and bars will be lifted next year, Whitehall confirmed. And although new regulations will insist that pub poker tables host only low-stakes games, there will be no policing of pub gambling to prevent stakes being raised to high levels. Nor will there be controls to stop poker games involving drunken players running on for many hours in bars that now have the right to open around the clock. In casinos, alcohol is not allowed at poker tables to discourage gamblers from getting into trouble because of heavy drinking. This is London
- Takeaways in Bishop's Stortford face being ordered to close earlier because police claim they are a magnet for late-night trouble. Officers are bringing the action on 24 November in what is believed to be the first case of its kind in the country, said district commander Ch Insp Richard Harbon. The takeaways are clustered along Station Road and South Street, within easy walking distance of Chicago Rock Café in Anchor Street and Flaunt and Attic nightclubs in Southmill Road. Kebabery, Master Fryer, Sheko's and Pizza Line open until 1am or 2am on weekdays and Sundays, but until 3am on Fridays and Saturdays. Police want them all to shut by 1am on the grounds that "there have been many instances of crime and disorder in the vicinity of these premises".
Chief Supt Gary Kitching, Herts police's eastern area commander, believes there is a case for pubs and clubs in Bishop's Stortford paying for the necessary extra policing at weekends. "There are companies out there which make an absolute fortune; thousands of pounds cross public bars within hours in the main pubs and clubs. We, as a service, have already jigged our shift patterns so more officers are out on Friday and Saturday night and the night-time economy has not paid for that." Busy times have been pushed back to 2am-3am and the extra officers could only come from daytime resources, he said. "I already charge Luminar Leisure in Stevenage £100,000 a year for additional policing [of Stevenage Leisure Park]," he revealed. "The licensing industry has got to accept there is a cost and they have got to pay. It's wrong to pay for it out of our normal taxes." He suggested a partnership approach if the idea was pursued and said Bishop's Stortford town centre could be easily defined to clarify which premises were included. Herts & Essex News Online So is this the first Alcohol Disorder Zone?
- Beer Wars: beer prices have dropped dramatically in the run up to Christmas, with high street supermarkets slashing rates in an attempt to beat their competitors. In some cases, the cost of lager has fallen to as little as 11p per 100ml - roughly the same as bottled water - while spirits are already being sold on special offer. The news is worrying both for health campaigners, who say it encourages binge drinking, and for pub owners whose sales in Scotland have already been hit by the smoking ban. In its annual Christmas pricewatch, trade magazine Grocer showed that Stella Artois lager was on sale at Morrisons for just 11p per 100ml - barely 2p more than the same amount of Evian water - the equivalent of 62.48p for a pint. The Scotsman
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