Shortening opening hours ‘would be an attack on liberty’

The President of the Guernsey Taxi Federation, Leon Gallienne, said shortening opening hours would be an attack on liberty, an appalling advert for the island, a death knell for businesses, and the centre of St Peter Port would become a ghost town.

He appealed to politicians to consider relaxing the laws, which would stagger closing times so that hundreds of people do not pour out onto the street at once.

‘My personal opinion is that 24-hour opening doesn’t really mean 24-hour opening.

‘What it does is give the licensee holders the opportunity, but in reality what would happen is that when the bars and restaurants are full they would stay open, when they’re empty they would close.

‘No pub is going to stay open 24 hours.

‘We have so many staffing issues here, 24 hours has been experimented elsewhere and appears to have lessened the number of cases of problematic drinking.’

The most recent police annual report revealed that 46 officers –nearly a third of the Bailiwick force – had been assaulted whilst on duty last year.

On top of that, almost half of everyone arrested last year was easily identified as being under the influence of alcohol.

Responding to those latest figures, Deputy Mary Lowe, the President of Home Affairs, announced that minimum pricing for alcohol and a reassessment of late-night drinking were being looked at.

Mr Gallienne says he is at the coalface of the issue because he regularly works the weekend taxi late shifts, and whilst condemning any assault on police, he questioned how many of the assaults were actually happening late at night in Town.

He said he sees the vast majority of young people enjoying themselves responsibly.

‘It’s always a small minority. We shouldn’t punish 95% because of the 5%.

‘When we think about the promotion of this island, what are we trying to say?

‘That our Town is a no-go area?

‘We have one of the safest towns in the world, we have one of the prettiest towns in the world, we have some of the best pubs and definitely the best restaurants in the world

‘What message would this send out?

'That we can’t control a few idiots who are spoiling it for the majority – there has to be a solution to this and it has to be a police solution.

‘In Jersey they must be rubbing their hands with glee because we’re basically saying we’re closing Guernsey for business again.’

Publicans in Town have also criticised any move to restrict licensing hours, and Mr Gallienne believes the impact on business would be significant.

‘It would bring a lot of financial hardship to many businesses – taxi drivers, pubs, restaurants, hotels – and I think it’s the wrong way to try to solve a policing problem.

‘When the licensing laws last changed it was a major step forward, and a lot more excellent restaurants have come on the scene, less restaurants are closing down, and they’re thriving.

Education is the key to tackling anti-social drinking according to Mr Gallienne, with targeted health campaigns to highlight the dangers of alcohol abuse whilst encouraging moderation.

• Cock & Bull licensee Stephen Taylor would like to clarify that in Friday's story about minimum alcohol pricing, he said laws should be used to tackle bad publicans, rather than that the law should be changed.

The Guernsey Press apologises for the error.