The Home Secretary Theresa May has hailed crime reduction partnership work in the night-time economy as a practical way to act against drunken disorder, rather than bringing in Minimum Unit Pricing (MUP) of alcohol.
Mrs May said in a foreword to a document after the Government’s consultation on its alcohol strategy: “Rather than use the sledgehammer of national legislation, which often misses its target, our immediate priority is to engage the industry – and of course, its customers – to follow practices that help everyone who likes a drink to consume alcohol responsibly. So we have challenged industry to go further in a number of areas.”
As for what the next steps actually are, after the consultation on delivering the government’s alcohol strategy, she said: “Best Bar None, Pubwatch, Community Alcohol Partnerships and Purple Flag are good examples of what can be achieved by that method. Bars, clubs and pubs can join Best Bar None, provided they get past an inspection that evaluates (amongst other things) how they promote responsible drinking and prevent crime and disorder.
“The effects of ‘Best Bar None’ on reducing drunkenness, and in particular on reducing drunken violence, can be spectacular. Since Doncaster introduced the scheme in 2006, violent crime has fallen in the town centre during the evening by over 40 per cent. Durham has also implemented the ‘Best Bar None’ scheme, and has seen crimes of violence go down by nearly 60 per cent. Meanwhile, bars, pubs and clubs in the centre of Durham have been visited by many more people, because the area is safer, less threatening, and altogether much more pleasant. Alcohol sales are up, but drunken violence is down.
11. It is that sort of targeted action by the pubs and clubs themselves which has so far proved by far the most effective in curbing irresponsible drinking. It has also encouraged moderate, sensible drinking
