Bolton Pubwatch goes digital

The borough has adopted a system whereby Pubwatch members do all of their communicating and sharing of images of banned individuals online. The purpose of the move is to improve the efficiency of Pubwatch schemes and reduce the operational costs of running them.

Pubwatch Online was piloted in Runcorn, Cheshire, five years ago, and 17 police forces across the UK currently have similar schemes.

However, Bolton is the first scheme to go “digital only”, and the scheme's co-ordinator Frank Marnell says it will not be the last.

“This is the way forward,” said Marnell. “Instead of somebody printing off the minutes of Pubwatch meetings, we will be going to meetings with our laptops and turning them on. Licensees are so busy, so the easiest thing to do when they are behind the bar is to look at their laptop.

“I don’t think it will be very long before a lot more pubwatches take this approach because of the restrictions we have on police time.”

Members of the schemes sign up to Pubwatch Online and are given access to shared pages, which include latest news on legislation and individuals banned from other premises.

If a person causes trouble in one pub and is banned, he will automatically be barred from all other premises in that Pubwatch scheme.

The scheme is seen as more cost-effective to pubs than the previous system of printing and distributing pictures of banned individuals.

Bolton Pubwatch officer Mary Harrison said: “Licensees in Bolton work closely with police and are committed to ensuring safe venues for everyone to enjoy.

“Having all schemes linked electronically will help us overcome communication problems and high costs of distributing offender photographs and information across the area.”