Paul Smith: The real truth about happy hours

Most of those reviewed premises to date have not (and will not) sign up to these conditions.

At Noctis in consultation with the council, when we sat down with them a couple of months ago, we strongly questioned the legality of the review action - i.e. to impose sanctions on promotions when there was actually no legal mechanism to do so.

This was interesting territory for Noctis as we don't disagree with the fundamental principles underpinning minimum pricing. We do have some serious issues however around the blanket approach and the scale of penalties levied against any bar which sells below 75p per unit - when clearly the supermarkets are selling large quantities of alcohol far cheaper, with impunity.

We did argue too that the council should not undertake a blanket action on 22 licensed premises when the Licensing Act 2003 calls for proportionate action to be taken regarding individual premises.

As a trade body we have considerable sympathy with any council or police who get exasperated by the alcohol related problems in their areas. However exasperation should lead to constructive dialogue and partnership, not unilateral pressure on operators who, in the main, want to find workable solutions.

Noctis suggested the creation of a Best Bar None scheme in Oldham as we believe this will help create a better, safer night time economy for the town. The council on the other hand weren't initially convinced because they thought trade wouldn't agree.

Unsurprisingly when we met with the operators in Oldham they agreed unanimously to sign up. The licensed trade clearly has to be at the centre of any conversations which are about sorting out problems of this type. Including the trade in the conversation is also something which the producers of Panorama could have done more effectively - yet sadly my contribution to the debate, was left on the cutting room floor - hope that doesn't sound like sour grapes!

On a more serious point, the next major worry for the trade is that other councils through the country suddenly believe that the solution to all their disorder issues is post office queues and wall-to-wall security staff.

Paul Smith is the executive director of late-night operator trade group Noctis. ​