'Form a queue if you want to buy a drink, Oldham pub customers told'

Drinkers in Oldham will have to queue at bars and buy no more than two beers at a time in an attempt to curb violence and binge-drinking. Customers will be encouraged to stand behind rope barriers similar to those used in banks and post offices as they wait to be served. The new rules have been put in place by Oldham Council in all 22 pubs in the town centre. Derek Heffernan, a Liberal Democrat councillor, said: 'There would have to be some form of barrier so people couldn't push past, either a rope or perhaps something stronger. 'It would be the end of buying a round but we have to do something to calm things down. There have been fights and stabbings and it's not right that people going out for the evening have to worry about being attacked.' Critics, however, have branded the new plans 'unnecessary'". - Daily Telegraph​

"Media workers are the heaviest drinking professionals in England, consuming the equivalent of more than four bottles of wine or more than 19 pints of beer a week, according to government research. People in the profession drink an average of 44 units a week, around double the recommended limit, a Department of Health survey finds. The NHS recommended maximum alcohol consumption for men is 21 to 28 units a week - three to four units a day. For women, the maximum is 14-21 units a week - two to three units a day." - Guardian​

"The chairman of Glasgow Restaurateurs Association, the representative body for more than 70 of the city's restaurants, has lambasted the Chancellor of the Exchequer for 'incessant increases' in alcohol duty, which he claims have served only to shun customers by hiking the price of house wine. Alan Tomkins, who owns a number of restaurants in the city, including premier fish restaurant Gamba and steak specialist Manna, told The Herald that 'it seems to have gone beneath the radar' that excise duty rates per bottle have increased by more than 20 per cent in just 13 months. - The Herald​

Police swooped on an Edinburgh city pub and discovered an underground cannabis farm with more than 350 plants hidden in a vault in the cellar. Officers who raided the Bonnington Bridge Bar in Newhaven Road reportedly found one man inside the locked vault, apparently tending to the drug factory. Three men have been arrested and charged in connection with the discovery of plants worth £52,000 on Thursday. The owner of the pub, Punch Taverns, said the firm had been unaware of the cannabis farm but had "co-operated fully" with the police investigation. A spokeswoman said the company had no knowledge of any illegal activities and that the tenant was responsible for all aspects of the business. She added: "We have a zero tolerance approach to drugs and have co-operated fully with police in their investigations."- Scotsman​