DERBY - CITY OF PUBS

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In the past six years, new places to eat and drink have sprouted up in the city centre, with trendy names like Susumi, Casa, Revolution and Foobaa. In January, London developer Urban Catalyst announced a £20m scheme to resurrect the historic Roundhouse on Pride Park. Those plans include a hotel, coffee house, cabaret restaurant and - inevitably - another bar and plans could also include a casino and arts venue. Since 1997, there has been an explosion of new pubs and clubs. Yates's Wine Lodge, Iron Gate, opened in 1997 and Jackie Stamps (now the Walkabout Inn) opened in the Market Place in 1998. Also in 1998, Casa, Iron Gate - formerly PJ Peppers - opened.

In 2000, The Old Institute and Revolution vodka bar, in the Strand, Foobaa, in Blacksmith's Yard, and Vida, in Queen Street, all opened. After a while, some people started to wake up to the fact, that if you wanted to open a pub, Derby was the place to do it. The Friary (also known as It's a Scream and formerly the Friary Hotel), was starting to enjoy a new lease of life. And, directly opposite, the Fat Cat cafe bar was also bringing in the punters. In 2001, Tonic opened in Friar Gate and today is going from strength to strength, as is neighbouring Soda Bar.

Also in 2001, Pete Wye and Russell Davison opened Susumi in the Wardwick - described as a style/noodle bar with a distinctive Japanese feel. The interior was designed by a feng-shui expert. The latest addition to Friar Gate was last year and a bar called Varsity. It was opened by the Barracuda group following a £1m investment to convert the former 18th-century bakery. At present, The Old Institute, the Strand, run by manager Paul Needham, is enjoying a good share of the trade. Increasingly, these days, in order to remain competitive, many of the pubs are going for rebranding, gimmicks and longer opening hours.

Newcastle-based pub chain Ultimate Leisure Group plc is hoping to create a western-themed bar in the former Derby post office building on the junction of Victoria Street and St James' Street. The £3m scheme comes after companies looking at converting the building for the past six years, had plans dropped twice for commercial reasons. The city council has already granted permission to convert the building into a bar and the company is applying to insert fire doors, remove a column on the ground floor and an internal wall on the first floor.

Bob Senior, managing director of Ultimate Leisure, said, "We bought the building in June this year and the total investment will be around £3m once the bar is ready. We are creating a western theme, called Coyote Wild, and we hope it will appeal to a range of people." The bar would be open from 6pm to 1.30am and would be free entry. Mr Senior added that work is already under way on the building, but the company needed to secure planning permission for the minor changes before it could complete the refit.

In 1997 Bass Leisure Retail, which later became Six Continents and is now known as Mitchells and Butlers, bought the building. At the time the company wanted to turn the ground floor into a pub, and make it part of its Edwards chain at a cost of £2m. Those plans were dropped in April, 1999, but revived in December, 2000. At that time Bass had intended to plough £2.75m into the scheme and develop two floors of the building. The scheme was once again thrown into doubt, and finally Ultimate Leisure stepped in to buy the building.

Diva, in Gower Street, wants to extend its opening hours on weekdays and increase its capacity from 300 to 420 people. The bar, which currently closes at 12.30am from Monday to Thursday wants to be able to open until 2am and 12.30am on a Sunday, when it currently closes at 10.30pm. But people living nearby have objected to the longer opening hours at the bar, which already opens until 2am on Friday and Saturday nights and is one of 96 venues in Derby with a public entertainment licence which extends beyond 11pm.

The application will be considered at Derby City Council's licensing sub-committee, which has received seven formal objections from local residents. However, two people have supported the plans and there have been no objections from Derbyshire police, Derby trading standards or the city council's development and cultural services department. PC Clive Needham, licensing manager at Derby police, said, "Each case is judged on its merits. Unless we can demonstrate that later hours is going to add to problems in the area it's not very likely we'll object. At the moment there's no evidence to suggest that Diva is contributing to crime and disorder problems."

Police have refused to give pub landlords photographs of louts banned from drinking because it could breach the yobs' rights. Publicans are now asking how their staff can refuse to serve troublemakers they cannot recognise. Landlord Mike Butterfield attended a meeting with police at which he and other publicans were shown pictures of 20 hooligans banned from pubs in their area. But officers told the landlords in the Pub Watch scheme meeting they could not take the photographs away and would have to remember the faces.

Jim Ellis, a councillor in Wigan, has written to the chief constable of Greater Manchester Police asking for the rules to be changed. He said, "We were told that, while photos of the yobs could be viewed at the meeting, Pub Watch members couldn't have copies because it would be a breach of the Data Protection Act. This lack of common sense suggests to me an indifference to the safety of staff and the public by the police." Greater Manchester Police said the force used to give photographs of troublemakers banned from pubs to landlords but the scheme had been abused with the images handed around and put on public display.

A spokesman said, "Due to occasions where photographs have not been used responsibly, officers in Wigan have only shown them to licensees under controlled conditions, such as meetings of Pub Watch members. This position is being reviewed with a view to introducing a consistent process where licensees will sign a legal agreement restricting them to using the photographs responsibly." Mr Butterfield added, "I've just moved over from Yorkshire where every Pub Watch landlord gets photos of those people banned. The only thing they didn't want you to do was put them on public display. They're a tool for management." (Source: Daily Mirror, Jan/07)

Police are hoping to calm down late-night troublemakers by handing out free lollipops and playing relaxing music to create a more easy-going atmosphere. Sergeant Mark Czechowski, licensing officer for Burton police, said, "By creating a calm atmosphere, we hope people will take the time to relax, enjoy some quiet music and a free lollipop before making their way home." Some hope. (Source: Derby Evening Telegraph, Apr/06)