UK: EARLIER PUB CLOSING 'NO CURE FOR VIOLENCE'

Restricting licensing hours makes no difference to levels of
alcohol-related violence, a study has confirmed.

The research, which also confirmed the suspected link between alcohol and
violence, will disappoint police and local authorities who will now have to
find other ways of tackling the problem.

Restrictions on extensions to permittted licensing hours have been
introduced in some towns and cities to reduce street violence and demands
on emergency services.

"We found it did not make any difference," said Dr Colin Graham, a member
of the research team now working at Inverclyde Royal Hospital. "The hope
was that if people were coming out of these places at one time there would
be a peak of people. Associated alcohol problems would be minimised and
there would be a more predictable workload."

The study was carried out by doctors at the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh
who took breath samples from patients two weeks before the restrictions
were introduced, then two and five weeks after to monitor the immediate and
longer-term effects.

Almost 3,000 breath samples were taken during the period, nearly a third of
which tested positive for alcohol.

Assault cases accounted for one in five attendances between midnight and
4am, and nearly 70 per cent of those hurt in assaults had been drinking.