Three regions to adopt Nightsafe partnerships

by John Harrington

A partnership scheme to cut alcohol-related disorder is being launched in three regions simultaneously to coincide with the new Licensing Act going live.

The Nightsafe initiative will be rolled out across the whole of Avon & Somerset, plus Derby and parts of County Durham, on 25 November.

Around 16 of the 43 police forces in the country currently operate Nightsafe schemes, according to Glenda Miziura, business development director at marketing company Kinesis, which created the scheme. Another 20 forces have shown an interest, she said.

Nightsafe was pioneered in Blackpool more than two years ago and within 12 months of being implemented disturbances in licensed premises fell by 22%.

Under the scheme, licensees agree to display posters in their premises that stress that excessive drinking is unattractive.

Licensees are also asked to sign up to a code of conduct saying they will not run irresponsible promotions such as all-inclusive offers and drinking games.

Miziura said they wanted to launch Nightsafe on 25 November to capitalise on the publicity created by the reform and show that action is being taken to keep people safe.

David Lallor, chief co-ordinator of Derby Pubwatch, said Nightsafe had the backing of all 120 members in the city centre and more from the outskirts.

'We would possibly get around 150 to 200 people involved,' he said. 'Any project that improves the safety of the customer and the public is a good initiative.'

Nightsafe is paid for by police and community safety partnerships. Sergeant Alec Wallace from Derby said 'quite a few thousand pounds' had been allocated for the scheme in the city.

Meanwhile, the Best Bar None pub and club accreditation scheme is set to impact on nearly one million students this academic year, according to student union co-ordinator NUS Ser-vices. Almost half of the UK's student unions have applied to join this year's scheme - nearly twice as many as last year.