“We are called Operation Unsteady. It’s a brilliant name. We’ve been making sure that the clubs and pubs and late-night refreshment places are adhering to the new licences and we have had to remind a couple of places what time they should shut, but we’ve had no trouble.

“This hasn’t hit Canterbury like a bolt out of the blue. We have had places with late licences here before. There’s no 24-hour pubs or clubs in Canterbury. The majority of places have only extended for an extra hour.”

For Numan Sherafali, 50, there has always been the risk of violence in his takeaway after the traditional 11pm pub closing time.

“Normally we get a rush after 11pm. If you get two or three groups in the shop at the same time you can get trouble.

“But last night we got customers coming in dribs and drabs. Consequently we were able to give people a better service. We didn’t have any trouble at all.

“Business was better than the average Thursday, but the Christmas lights were switched on, which helped trade.”

Pippa Watts had a typical night on her 12-hour shift as senior emergency nurse at Kent and Canterbury Hospital. “It was a usual Thursday night. At 1am a drunk came in who had had a fight with a bouncer and broken his hand. He was quite polite.

“Apparently he had tried to stop his friend taking his clothes off. The bouncer thought he was getting aggressive and that’s when things went wrong.”

David Latham, a 43-year-old paramedic team leader based at the Canterbury ambulance station, said his 7pm-7am shift was quiet.

“The new opening hours didn’t cause us any problems, but time will tell. It was a very cold night which may have kept people in.”

John Telfer, a 63-year-old administrator at Canterbury Christ Church University, who lives at one of its halls of residence, said: “We are routinely disturbed at around 2am to 3am. It was hard to discern a real difference last night. But there was less movement among people leaving pubs to go to clubs at 11pm, when bars used to all close.”

Lesley Barnes, 45, a project manager at the Scrine Foundation, a centre with emergency beds for homeless people, said: “It was exactly the same as any other night. Our 21 beds were all filled when we closed the doors at 10.30pm.”

The Rev David Hayes, Rector of the City Centre Parish, said: “Last night the street noise was no worse than normal. Residents have to live with the constant exposure to social abuse through the high density of pubs and clubs in the city centre. This is exacerbated by the new licensing laws allowing increased hours into the early hours.”

Explore UK News

• Crime News

• Education News

• Health News

• Scotland News

Times Recommends

• Times Christmas appeal: Letter from the Editor
• Conferences — what a waste of money
• Schools supremo learns a painful lesson