Police have abandoned us, claim licensees

Humberside Police has rejected licensees' claims that it has abandoned Grimsby town centre and left venues to "fend for themselves".

Disgruntled bar owners and pub managers in Grimsby have described police presence as "non-existent" and "abysmal" and accused them of damaging the town's night-time economy.

Paul Weeks, chairman of Elite Entertainment and Leisure Retail who own a number of venues in Grimsby, said that it has taken between 40 minutes and an hour for police to respond to violent incidents.

"In the last year, there's been a massive reduction in police visibility and resources have been pulled out of Grimsby in favour of Cleethorpes," he said.

"There's no deterrent for troublemakers at the moment and because there's no support outside our venues, there's added pressure to let undesirable people into our venues where we can keep an eye on them."

But Humberside Police insisted policing levels have remained the same given the closure of a number of large venues in the town's Riverhead district.

Inspector Tom Shaw, alcohol and violence reduction champion for North East Lincolnshire, said: "Even though there are less people going out in Grimsby and there are less bars, the actual numbers of police in the area has not decreased at all," he said.

"It'd be great if every licensee could see a policeman out of their pub window but in the real world, things sadly don't work out that way and, given the resources, we have to prioritise and we will deal with any incidents as soon as we can."