Blackpool pubs back down on late licence

Pub bosses have stood down in their bid to open until 7am to show a boxing match.
Yates and WalkaboutYates and Walkabout
Yates and Walkabout

Walkabout on Queen Street, and Yates’s on Market Street, both Blackpool, had wanted to televise a fight between Floyd Mayweather and Conor McGregor which is being screened live from Las Vegas on August 27.

As reported by The Gazette earlier this week, the police had objected to the applications for licences enabling the venues to serve alcohol between 4am and 7am.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

A town hall licensing panel was due to consider both applications today.

But the Stonegate Pub Company, which operates both pubs, withdrew it’s applications ahead of the hearing taking place.

A spokesman for Stonegate told The Gazette: “Having liaised with the police and noting their concerns for late night licences generally in the area, while we remain confident in our own sports event model which will take place in other venues nationwide, we decided to withdraw our application as a gesture of our support locally.”

Blackpool police had warned enabling people to drink so late into the night while watching a “high-adrenaline” sport on television could lead to drunkenness and potential disorder in the town centre during the bank holiday weekend.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

In a statement submitted to the hearing, Sergeant Helen Parkinson, said: “Not only will viewers be exposed to a high adrenaline atmosphere, they will also be more likely to have already had alcoholic drinks leading up to the fight.

“The provision of alcohol continuing until 7am will exacerbate drunkenness and noise nuisance complaints, with a risk of crime and disorder.”

It is the second time Blackpool police have dealt a blow to bids to show late night boxing featuring Floyd Mayweather.

In 2015, applications for temporary events notices to enable The Victory, on Caunce Street, the Queens Hotel, on Talbot Road, Layton, and the Ardwick, on Foxhall Road, to open until 6am were also withdrawn after the police objected on the grounds the move could lead to anti-social behaviour.

The pubs had wanted to stay open to show a live televised fight between Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao.