Pubs with a record of violence will have to use plastic

24 May 2007 by
Pubs with a record of violence will have to use plastic

Pubs, bars and clubs with a history of violence could be forced to swap drinking glasses for plastic vessels in a crackdown on alcohol-related crime, if new Government proposals are accepted.

John Grogan, chair of the All Party Parliamentary Beer Group, tabled the Early Day Motion last Thursday (17 May). It calls for "the replacement of glass with polycarbonate vessels in specific licensed premises in order to combat crime and disorder" and has already received support from seven cross-party MPs.

Specific sites

But the motion proposes targeting only specific sites, rather than general areas, because, Grogan said, a wider ban would be a disproportionate response and would diminish the pub-going experience and customers' enjoyment.

The proposal has been welcomed by the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO). Adrian Studd, ACPO working group lead on licensing and chief inspector of the Metropolitan Police's club and vice unit, said: "We support the introduction of polycarbonate glasses into all premises with a history of violence or with a ‘high-energy' clientele who could be most at risk in venues serving drinks in glass containers.

"All premises should conduct a risk assessment to establish whether they would benefit from switching to polycarbonate glasses."

The proposal also received support from nightclub operator Luminar, which runs 120 clubs in the UK and is set to introduce polycarbonate glasses throughout its venues over the next year.

However, industry bodies have called for pragmatism and a need for any new law to reflect the diverse output and customer experience offered by Britain's pubs, bars and clubs.

Glass violence

Paul Smith, executive director of the Bar Entertainment & Dance Association, said: "We are pro trying to bring down glass violence and are not saying that glass is good and polycarbonates are bad, per se. We are simply stating that the Early Day Motion should not dictate to operators, but provide them with the right to choose. "

He added: "We applaud what Luminar are doing, as we are happy to see the introduction of polycarbonates in that sort of environment."

But Nick Bish, chief executive of the Association of Licensed Multiple Retailers, said the problem of alcohol-related violence had already been largely addressed by the licensed trade and was declining, not escalating.

"There is a Government will to eliminate casual violence generally, but a blanket ban as an overall panacea is a considerable over-reaction that will have all sorts of unintended consequences," he said.

Camra campaign to highlight short pint measures in pubs >>

Government urged to overturn decision to scrap crown logo on pint glasses >>

By Christopher Walton

E-mail your comments to Christopher Walton here.

The Caterer Blog](http://www.caterersearch.com/blogs/catering-news-blog/) Catch up with more news and gossip on the Caterer Blog here
[Newswire For the latest hospitality news, sign up for our e-mail news alerts.
The Caterer Breakfast Briefing Email

Start the working day with The Caterer’s free breakfast briefing email

Sign Up and manage your preferences below

Check mark icon
Thank you

You have successfully signed up for the Caterer Breakfast Briefing Email and will hear from us soon!

Jacobs Media is honoured to be the recipient of the 2020 Queen's Award for Enterprise.

The highest official awards for UK businesses since being established by royal warrant in 1965. Read more.

close

Ad Blocker detected

We have noticed you are using an adblocker and – although we support freedom of choice – we would like to ask you to enable ads on our site. They are an important revenue source which supports free access of our website's content, especially during the COVID-19 crisis.

trade tracker pixel tracking