Pubs in problem areas face blanket opening hours clampdown

The government is seeking to alter the Licensing Act to give councils the powers to restrict the opening hours of every licensed venue in a problem area, the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) has confirmed.

Off-licences and supermarkets could also face restricted hours, but this would be the decision of an individual council.

Council officers will also be given the right to review the licence of a premises, regardless of whether the police or residents have complained.

Gordon Brown mentioned the new powers briefly during his speech at the Labour Party conference, admitting that in some areas extended hours are "not working".

The changes will require primary legislation and will see a full consultation before the proposals go through Parliament.

A DCMS spokeswoman said: "Councils are to get beefed up powers to tackle problem premises.

"We will give councils the powers to impose a complete blanket ban on 24-hour licences in a particular area - such as a street, city centre, or the whole of the local authority area.

"Councils will still make the majority of licensing decisions on opening hours on a case-by-case basis, but we accept that there are times where disorder cannot be attributed to individual premises.

"We will also introduce a new power to make it easier and faster for councils to restrict or remove individual pub and club licences where there are problems.

"We accept the arguments put to us by local government that councillors should be able to call for reviews without having to wait for a resident or the police to make a complaint.

"This change will make it easier for licensing authorities to bring problem premises to review."

According to the DCMS just 10 per cent of 24-hour licences - 640 in total - are pubs, bars and nightclubs.

Mark Hastings, the British Beer & Pub Association's communications director, said about 40 per cent of these 24-hour licences are in Dorset and none actually open for 24 hours.

He added: "If anything this could be more of an issue for supermarkets and off-licences that have far more 24-hour licences and actually use them.

"In essence, this announcement has more to do with grabbing some headlines in the effort to capture the vote of middle England."