Police and neighbours fear rise in crime

LICENSING chiefs face the first test of new government booze guidelines tonight (Thursday) when they decide whether a nightclub can stay open almost round the clock.
Bosses at Millennium, a basement bar in Drury Lane, Holborn, want to keep the venue open until 6am seven days a week.
But the application – the first to be processed by the Town Hall’s licensing committee since the government scrapped fixed drinking hours earlier this year – has sparked controversy after police objected.
Inspector Peter Hughes, from Holborn police, has recommended that the late licence bid is spiked, claiming that it could lead to an increase in crime.
He said: “I have concerns, on the grounds of public nuisance and prevention of crime as a whole, that if this proposal were to be granted it could be followed by similar requests from other licensed premises and clubs, of which there are a number in the area.
“This would be likely to create more noise and could possibly precipitate further crime in the area. It would create further problems for the community and police.”
Millennium bar managers say they would do their best to quieten rowdy customers.
But residents living in Wintergarden House, in nearby Macklin Street, have also complained.
One protest letter said: “The club itself is no problem. It is the people leaving it who stand in the street shouting and laughing that wake us up in the morning.”
Another added: “It will doubtless cause increased noise and disturbance generally during the night and early morning.”
A Millennium statement said: “Posters ask patrons to leave quietly at the end of the evening. Any severely intoxicated patrons are quietly escorted from the premises and, if possible, placed in a taxi or taken home.”
The make-or-break meeting will take place in the Town Hall tonight (Thursday) when a panel of three councillors will consider the evidence for and against the application.