On Saturday December 19th Between 01.30 and 02.30 we carried out one of our regular patrols of city centre streets. The weather was damp and chilly, no wind. The focus was on night clubs: Moles, Blue Rooms, Back to Mine, Club XL, Opium, the Weir, OPA, Po Na Na, Qube and Second Bridge. We also visited the Huntsman, Bog Island, where it appeared that the problem of excessive noise from inside the pub had been dealt with.
Crowds on the street, drunkenness and noise levels appeared to be about average. There were no exceptional ‘incidents’ to report. With the exception of door staff security observed by us consisted of one street marshal (City Marshal) patrol, one mobile police patrol and one Street Pastor patrol. We saw no police on foot. Door staff, though usually present, were scarcely visible and in general were making no effort to control noise at the door. Only the OPA doorman had on a high visibility jacket. Back to Mine appeared to be in breach of licence conditions as their doorman was not wearing a reflective jacket.
As usual the main problem, which varied in severity from club to club, was the noisy crowds of arriving and departing customers and smokers at club entrances and the noise of music which blarred into the street as entrance doors were constantly opened and closed. We will continue to insist that door staff are an essential element in enhancing the safety and security of our streets at night and should look and behave as if this was the case. In particular, all security staff on our streets should wear high visibility jackets of the kind that have proved so successful in other cities such as Norwich.
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