Pubs unite to stop rowdies in their tracks
The owners of pubs and clubs in the Musselburgh area will soon be working together to flush out under age drinkers and other troublemakers.
Violent and rowdy behaviour could see drinkers barred from premises throughout the town — for a minimum period of two years — under a new Pub Watch scheme.
Lengthier exclusions will also be considered for those involved in more serious incidents, such as drug dealing and assaults on staff.
Benefits
The initiative is being led by Alex Vickers, who runs the Mayfair bar and restaurant with his mother Rena.
It has already attracted widespread support from local licensees, with more than 20 premises across Musselburgh, Wallyford and Whitecraig keen to get involved.
Meetings have been taking place with the police and licensing officers at East Lothian Council, with a view to getting the scheme up and running in the next few weeks.
By reducing antisocial behaviour in pubs and bars, Mr Vickers hopes the initiative will have benefits for the wider community, as well as protecting pub owners from the risk of losing their licences.
Reputation
He told the News: "We need to clean up Musselburgh and make it a better town. Musselburgh has developed a bad reputation over the past few years and we can help to address that.
"I am Musselburgh born and bred and as licensees I think we have a duty to look after our town.
"Everyone is fighting the same battle, so instead of fighting it separately it makes sense to fight it together.
"Everyone has problems with under age drinkers and troublemakers and the advantage of Pub Watch is that we can share experiences and ideas to tackle these problems more effectively.
"There are a lot of measures that we have at the Mayfair that other people are going to adopt, and others have measures in place that we are going to adopt.
"Hopefully, we can make Musselburgh a safer environment and a nicer environment.
Havoc
Mr Vickers has learned from experience how difficult it can be to take on the minority of drinkers who seem intent on causing trouble.
"We have had problems here in the past and hopefully we have managed to iron out most of our problems.
"Unfortunately, the troublemakers who used to cause problems here will now be causing havoc somewhere else in the town," he continued.
"There are people who go out with the intention of causing havoc and by working together with Pub Watch we can show them that this will not be tolerated in any of our premises."
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Weather for Musselburgh
Friday 18 May 2012
Today
Light rain
Temperature: 5 C to 8 C
Wind Speed: 18 mph
Wind direction: North east
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Light rain
Temperature: 4 C to 8 C
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