OUTRAGED licensees are on a collision course with Home Secretary Jack Straw over plans to 'name and shame' pubs with a history of drink-fuelled violence.

The Blackburn MP wants doctors and nurses to help create a league table of danger spots in a bid to encourage bar owners to clamp down on drunken thugs.

But some licensees, led by Burnley Licensed Victuallers Association senior vice president Les Harrison, have claimed that the idea is outrageous.

Mr Harrison, licensee of the Coal Clough pub Burnley, said: "As far as the LVA is concerned I think we have the problem pretty much under control although improvements can always be made. Mr Straw's scheme sounds like a sledgehammer to crack a nut.

"I am sure the police would back me up in saying we have an excellent relationship with them and that we have very little trouble in our premises."

Blackburn pub owners are dubious about the scheme and believe they are not the only ones to blame for drink-fuelled bust-ups.

Geoff Sutcliffe, landlord of the Manxman Hotel and chairman of the local Licensed Victuallers Association, said: "If there is going to be any sort of list, I don't think pubs and clubs should be the only places highlighted as injury blackspots.

"Does Mr Straw plan to include off-licences which sell alcohol to underage drinkers, the scenes of domestic arguments fuelled by alcohol, or fighting at football matches? All these places account for a lot of drink-related injuries. "I admit there are certain problems with violence in the town centre, particularly at weekends. But if this scheme is going to start in Blackburn we the landlords would want a thorough consultation process with Mr Straw and the police before it gets the go-ahead."

Among the schemes already operating in East Lancashire to combat drink-fuelled violence is a project where the LVA asks the magistrates to impose an exclusion order banning the offender from all LVA members' pubs.

In Padiham, a separate pub watch scheme operates in which trouble makers are banned from all public houses in the town.

The blueprint for the scheme is a successful project in Cardiff where in the first eight months of last year the city's Royal Infirmary casualty department logged 415 assault victims from pubs and clubs in the city.

It is estimated that assaults have dropped by a fifth and attacks using bottles and glasses have fallen to virtually nil since a league table of the 60 bars from where the injured came was published.

Mr Straw said: "Alcohol is behind much of the violent crime in Blackburn and elsewhere. The costs for victims - and the strain it puts on the police and NHS resources - are considerable.

"The Government is determined to give the police and the courts the powers necessary to deal with the drunken thugs who blight town and city centres.

"This is an excellent illustration and how hospitals can work with the police and others to tackle crime and disorder."

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