Sir, Town councillor John Griffiths's letter in last week's Observer voiced concerns over a proposed uniform closing time of midnight for licensed premises. Our association has added its name to those pushing for firmer control on anti-social behaviour, particularly in the early hours within the walled town. This area is not exclusively for the use of licensed premises and food outlets and their needs should not be allowed to dictate its future. We are looking to redress the balance. Staggered closing times or no set closing times at all may be commercially beneficial for licensed premises, but there has to be a compromise, as this neighbourhood is also residential and recognised as such on the development plan for the county. Continuous assaults on the gentle and relaxed nature of this town and an inability of some licensed premises to restrict alcohol intake have made our members vote to support the local police, the county council licensing officers and our local county council member, Mike Evans, for a midnight closing time. This will enable the authorities and all licensees to focus more keenly on the problem. Yes, it is a compromise, but the problems have not gone away with anything tried so far. With the new regulations that are due to come into force, we are looking to work together to find a strategy to satisfy genuine concerns for safety, noise, intimidation, as well as the usual raft of unacceptable behaviour incidents. You only have to take a look at the regular yob behaviour in Paragon Gardens and try to get an urgent uniformed response to see how stretched the police are at times and how flagrant abuse is seen as being worth the narrow risk of a caution. Not all instances of anti-social behaviour are reported to the police and so do not feature in any statistic. If the police had a custody suite at Tenby, it could influence any decision that is made on staggered closing times. Any arrests made at present mean officers have to take offenders to cells in Pembroke or Haverfordwest, so are not available to respond locally for two to three hours. Without such a facility in Tenby, policing the streets in the late evening and early hours will always just have to be the show of force at a uniform closing time. We advocate prevention and a pro-active zero tolerance approach to curbing selfish behaviour. As police financing stands, it would appear that the police are limited in the strategies they can adopt. Mr. Griffiths, with many years of policing experience, should be applauded for airing the view shared by many residents that 'Beer Garden Culture' has usurped the otherwise laudable idea of 'Café Culture': The rise in daytime drink-related incidents reflects the opportunities offered to drinkers. The number of cafés with street tables and chairs or people only drinking coffee was minimal last summer. Residents, hotel guests and visitors on holiday still ask for the right to enjoy their home and a 'peaceful environment' to be respected by others. The whole walled town does not have to be hijacked by a minority in the name of café culture, commercial needs or progress. Commander Chris Allison from the Association of Chief Police Officers has stated his big concern is that unless we deal with the cultural issues, the underlying issues that make people drink to excess and by extending the licensing hours, all we will be doing is giving people the opportunity to drink more. If they drink more, he considered they would more likely to become confrontational, more likely to misread situations, more likely to become difficult and more likely to get into fights and as a result more likely to become victims of crime. Taking this informed opinion on face value, it would appear that there is a lot more work to do. Simply looking at continental opening hours, linking it with continental behaviour and then hoping that behaviour here will improve by introducing the same opening hours in this country just doesn't stand up to scrutiny. The strenuous efforts by the tourist board to make the town an upmarket location are lost if a few are blinkered by going for the quick buck.
Richard Walker, Chairman, Tenby Walled Town Residents Committee.