24/7 drinking for yobs?

Plans for 24-hour drinking will worsen yob culture in the West End, a report warns.

Pubs and clubs will be able to serve through the night under new laws currently being considered by Parliament.

The aim is to develop a "continental" attitude to alcohol, reducing binge drinking and cutting crime as revellers make their way home at different times rather than all spilling out of pubs at 11pm.

But a report by the London Assembly warns that councils will lose the power to prevent more pubs and clubs opening in areas already "saturated" with late-night venues.

This would lead to an increase in anti-social behaviour - including violence, vandalism and people urinating on the streets - in already busy areas such as the West End.

It would also have a knock-on effect in the capital's suburban town centres, such as Ealing, Croydon, Sutton and Romford, which already have late-night bars.

And councils would be forced to abandon policies which sought to limit the spread of noisy clubs only to existing "hotspots".

Conservative London Assembly member Angie Bray said: "We could be faced with a proliferation of bars and clubs opening in areas which councils had previously managed to keep strictly residential." Simon Milton, leader of Westminster council, said: "The Government's plans for licensing reform could threaten their drive against the yob culture."

But Stefano Fraquelli, chairman of the Soho Business Association, said: "It mustn't be seen as a negative thing. We have to move with the times and keep pace with the demand that people have for enjoying themselves."

Philip Matthews, managing director of the Rock Garden in Covent Garden and chairman of the Westminster Licensees Association, said the report amounted to "scaremongering".

Licensees were far more concerned about handing over control of the system to "maverick" councils like Westminster, he said..

The report, entitled Whatever Gets You Through The Night, analyses the likely effect of transferring the granting of alcohol licences from magistrates to local councils.

Legislation is currently going through Parliament to overhaul the antiquated licensing system, which dates back to 1915, and is likely to become law by the summer.

But the London Assembly fears that the Bill, as presently drafted, would restrict councillors and residents from campaigning against the granting of new licences.

The report, from the London Assembly's culture committee, says members are "gravely concerned" that the draft laws favour the interests of business over those of local residents and communities.

It adds: "There is a real danger that certain parts of London will become magnets for anti-social behaviour." At present, there are 21,523 licensed premises in London.