The new Licensing Act has already made a significant impact in reducing crime, according to one senior police officer.
Sgt Nigel Dermott, licensing project manager at Essex Police, said there had been a 30 to 40 per cent fall in incidents involving disorder in the county over the first weekend of the regime.
Speaking at The Licensing Act 2003 post Second Appointed Day Conference in London, he said: "I've always been confident the Licensing Act would be a positive thing.
"It's obviously only an initial snapshot, but we are really chuffed that we could not give the media the scare story they wanted."
Earlier Jeremy Phillips, the conference chairman, said: "We made it and nothing will ever be the same again. It was a little bit of an anti-climax for the media."
But, on reflection, he argued, the government should have sold the idea the Act would give flexibility to pubs. "In time, people will come to realise that," he added.
Despite the positive feeling, it emerged there may be a number of legal battles still to be fought against councils and their approach to licensing - including a possible judicial review involving Leeds City Council.
Jeremy Allen, of solicitors Poppleston Allen, said: "The trade and councils are in a very difficult situation because they have different views. Things need to be decided by the courts."
Julian Skeens, head of licensing at lawyers Jeffrey Green Russell, called for the legal profession to adopt a new way of thinking about the Act, before it becomes a bit of a "curate's egg".
He added: "There's good bits and bad bits, but we have to take on the whole Act. One rotten approach will make the whole barrel bad."
However, John McNamara, chief executive of the BII, refused to blame local authorities for any ongoing problems.
"They have been to hell and back and we are in this together," he said.
But he added: "The law alone will not solve the problem of those who drink irresponsibly."