THE case of a Blackburn bar owner having his 2am drinks licence clipped by magistrates by half an hour because undercover police found he did not serve food until closing time may smack considerably of absurdity -- above all, when he claims that, in more than three years, no-one has wanted a meal at any time anyway.

Yet, while people may ask whether the police have better things to do than mount plain-clothes operations to ensure that late drinking is legitimised by the availability of snacks to the last minute, it needs to be remembered that their concern is to remove drink-driven late-night trouble from the menu.

But it is apparent that, against a background of a marked rise in assaults, which the force says reflect the granting of extra late licences last year, efforts to sensibly regulate drinking hours in town centre bars are in an unco-ordinated mess.

We have seen not just the bar in this case but another with a 2am licence having a 30-minute cutback imposed by magistrates after police complaints. We have also seen another six bars asking the council for permission to open until two o'clock on the grounds that their trade was suffering because of unfair competition.

And now when -- in defiance of police warnings about the prospect of more trouble and violence -- councillors have agreed this, it seems that the police and the bench are determined to at least curb the time drink can be served until, even if means resorting to the law's small print in ways that look silly.

Surely, there can be a better approach to the problem -- a co-ordinated one that sensibly and fairly tailors the availability of late-night drink to local conditions and the requirements of everyone concerned -- the bar owners, their customers and the police and the townsfolk who generally want law and order mixed with pleasure.

Why can't the council, the police and the council co-operate much better on this?