Trade leaders have warned that licensees could end up paying a "levy" to cover the cost of policing, following the launch of a new scheme in Manchester.
In a bid to reduce late-night crime and allay public concerns over safety, pub and bar owners in one of Manchester's busiest streets have done a "buy-one-get-one-free" deal with the local police to fund an additional beat officer.
Licensees will meet the cost of an extra officer to accompany a designated beat officer on foot patrols in Peter Street between 9pm and 3am on Friday and Saturday nights.
But the move has raised the spectre of a possible levy on the pub trade to pay the costs associated with policing busy city centres and dealing with drink-related crime.
The British Beer and Pub Association (BBPA) has called for decisions on the best use of over-stretched police resources to be made at a strategic level, instead of the quick-fix solution of making additional officers available to those willing to pay.
Mark Hastings, spokesman for the BBPA, said: "It has to be remembered that the trade already pays a very large amount of money in taxes.
"We don't want to be in a situation where policing is only available to those willing to pay. If I were a private citizen in Manchester I might be asking where that additional officer would otherwise have been."
The Manchester initiative was proposed by licensees in Peter Street, who asked how they could increase the police presence in the area. In the past two years, the number of new bars and clubs has turned it from one of the city centre's quietest areas after dark to one of its busiest.
But a spokeswoman for the Greater Manchester Police said the "buy-one-get-one-free" tag was unfair.
"We wouldn't describe it as that," she said. "It's an initiative that came about at the suggestion of the bar owners themselves and benefits everyone."
Last year, the Government-backed Institute for Public Policy Research issued a report proposing that the pub trade should meet the cost of city centre crime in the same way that football clubs pay for policing at matches.