Police officers and local authorities have told ministers that the industry has “failed to clean up its act” and is to blame for creating Britain’s binge-drinking culture through cheap drink promotions and targeting teenagers with alcopops.

David Griffin, Assistant Chief Constable of Cheshire, said: “The industry has patently failed to clean up its act and as we witness every weekend in our towns and cities, has created a culture of binge drinking, with licensed premises designed and run to facilitate the maximum amount of drinking in the minimum amount of time in an effort to maximise profits. This quite simply has to stop.”

The police are demanding that the Department for Culture impose sanctions on any part of the industry unwilling to tackle excessive drinking and alcohol-related violence.

The latest criticism of the Government’s approach to reform of the licensing laws comes after judges and police said longer drinking hours would lead to an explosion of disorder on the streets.

The Association of Chief Police Officers said in a paper sent to the Home Office that the Government’s strategy of tackling the problems of drink by relying on voluntary regulation by the industry was unlikely to work. “Voluntary regulation has been slow to impact on the underlying issues such as drinks promotions like ‘all you can drink for £10’,” a statement from Acpo said.

It said the voluntary codes to tackle alcopops aimed at the young and the introduction of plastic instead of glass in bars had been taken up “less than enthusiastically by an industry that keeps their eye steadfastly on the bottom line”.

Police are understood to be dismayed at the attitude of the Culture Department towards their concerns and believe that it is allowing the industry to “get off lightly”.

Peter Neyroud, the Chief Constable of Thames Valley, said that officers had to get on the “front foot” in dealing with applications for extended licences. “We have to put the drinks industry back in their box. This is about extreme competition in a market which is looking quite tight. If one of the ways to gain a margin is to push the hours, they will. I think the idea they are paternalistic benefactors is so much rubbish,” he added.

The criticism by senior officers will worry No 10, which is increasingly anxious about police warnings over the likely effects on street disorder when longer opening hours come into force in November.

Chief constables said that the Government was pressing ahead with reform of licensing without other measures such as late-night transport and public lavatories being put in place. “Basically, we are only getting part of the package, the longer hours and very little else,” a police source said.

Councils have joined the police campaign, claiming that the drinks industry is more interested in profit than tackling abuses.

Cheltenham Borough Council said: “The industry cannot be trusted to police itself. It has failed miserably so far. Drinks promotion must be banned in its entirety as should commercial trading practices which encourage the philosophy of ‘pile it high, sell it cheap’.”

Durham County Council added: “It will take robust enforcement as well as partnership to have a substantial impact on the way the alcohol industry operates”.

MEANWHILE, AT THE COACH AND HORSES . . .

AFTER 62 years behind the bar, the landlord of the Coach and Horses in Soho has decided to sell up. “When the new licensing laws come in I just won’t be capable of running the pub late at night,” Norman Balon, 78, said.

The Coach and Horses
Chislehampton, Oxford

David McPhillips, landlord, said: “The change in the licensing laws doesn’t affect us. We are a traditional country inn so the impact is negligible. As we are in a village, we have a more mature clientele and they don’t want to stay up later.”

The Coach and Horses
Isleworth, West London

Derek O’Brien, landlord, said: “We are already open until midnight but we have applied for an extra hour on Friday and Saturday nights. At the moment, the bands we have on finish at midnight and it’s always a rush to get people out. But once we get the new hours, people will not have to rush and can relax and then drift away at their leisure.”

The Coach and Horses
Woolton Village, Liverpool

Pat Carroll, landlord, said: “I am happy with our opening hours already, we are licensed to open until midnight on Thursday, Friday and Saturday. We have customers who don’t want to go into town and would rather drink here.”

The Coach and Horses
Freckleton, Preston

Glynis Waring, landlady, said: “We are a village pub so there is no demand to open longer. This is such a hard business to be in anyway so I don’t know how anyone can afford to stay open for 24 hours.”

The Coach and Horses
Usworth, Lincolnshire

Eric Holmes, landlord, said: “I have put in for a one-hour extension until 12 o’clock. The police said there was no point in applying for anything later.”

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