Pubwatch plan gets tough with drunken yobs (From Swindon Advertiser)

Pubwatch plan gets tough with drunken yobs

7:41am Monday 2nd April 2007 in News By Stephanie Tye

PUBS and bars in the town centre are calling time on drunken yobs.

And venues are warning troublemakers they could face a life ban for using violence towards members of staff under a new pubwatch scheme designed to clamp down on alcohol-fuelled anti-social behaviour.

Anyone found to be acting in an unacceptable manner will also be banned from pubs for a set period of time and, to stop them from moving on to another venue, a "barred from one, barred from all" system has been implemented.

It has been running for just over a month and already two men have been banned from the pubs for a year.

Nikki King, assistant manager of Lava Lounge, said the scheme had helped.

"There was a lot of trouble happening in the town centre on weekends for quite a while, but it seems to be calming itself down a bit now," she said.

"We don't want these kind of people in our venues so it gives us the power to do something about it, and we're all looking out for each other.

"It gives us the chance to present a united front and I think it shows that we won't stand for this kind of behaviour."

Joanna Gilby, manager of O'Neill's and Reflex, also backed the idea.

"It is definitely sending out the right message," she said.

"If we don't stand together these people are only going to move on and just cause problems elsewhere."

But she said a lot of people had now abandoned the town centre for Old Town.

"I can understand why people stay up there because you can't go out for a night in town without seeing a fight," she said.

"As a pub you do everything you can to stop fights happening, but you can't stop people grabbing someone's bum or something like that.

"That's when problems start."

As well as the two men that have received the bans, decisions are due to be made on another 15 people.

Any incident involving violence towards a member of staff could result in a life ban.

Swindon Council and the police are working closely with the pubs to curb the problems.

One measure they have just introduced is issuing door staff with high visibility jackets.

Swindon Council's anti-social behaviour co-ordinator Cheri Wright said it would make them a much more visible presence.

"It will help the public to identify who is policing the area and it will also help the police to identify who are perpetrators and who is trying to help," she said.

The council has also issued dispersal orders for the area and will be introducing a scheme to help deal with persistent offenders later this year.

"It sends out a clear message that the type of behaviour will not be tolerated," Cheri said.

"If you are not acting acceptably then you are not welcome in the town centre."