SCOTLAND’S alcohol tsar has called on pubs and clubs to serve more food to prevent drink-fuelled violence.

Tom Wood, a former deputy chief constable who advises the Scottish executive, believes serving chips, burgers as well as healthy options could reduce the number of assaults after closing time.

Fast-food outlets are often a flashpoint for violence as people queue for takeaway meals after a night of heavy drinking.

Wood’s intervention comes as the Scottish executive is considering asking landlords to provide sensible eating options as a condition of their licence.

“For some time now we’ve seen situations where people leaving pubs have got themselves into big queues outside kebab houses or fish and chip shops where flashpoints and confrontations occur,” said Wood, who chairs the Scottish Association of Alcohol and Drug Action Teams.

“The best thing to do would be to prevent [people] getting drunk in the first place rather than wait for them to get drunk then give them a pie. But if they did serve more food, it could reduce some of the trouble,” he went on to add.

Wood’s comments echo a similar call from the chairman of Glasgow’s licensing board who said junk food would soak up drink and reduce trouble. Councillor Gordon Macdiarmid argued recently that serving pizzas, kebabs and hot dogs in clubs and pubs would soak up alcohol and reduce fights and anti-social behaviour.

“Anything that could help curb late-night violence is worth trying,” said Canon Kenyon Wright, former chairman of Alcohol Focus Scotland, which campaigns for more responsible drinking.

However, Paul Waterson, chief executive of the Scottish Licensed Trade Association, said he would prefer to see street disorder tackled by closing fast-food outlets before pubs and clubs shut.

“We have to keep people from hanging around city centres late at night,” he said. “Some towns in Scotland [Greenock and Paisley] are already doing this and it seems to have been very successful in curbing late-night violence and disruption.”

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