Publican not convinced pub ban is the answer

A CLARENCE Valley publican says there is more to street violence than what happens in pubs and clubs.

Clocktower Hotel publican Bill Dougherty agrees with research tsaying thugs roaming the street fuelled on drugs, alcohol and testosterone are the main problem.

AS NSW Premier Barry O'Farrell threatens to widen his Sydney CBD anti-violence bans to the rest of NSW, a Clarence Valley publican says there is more to street violence than what happens in pubs and clubs.

The publican of Grafton's Clocktower Hotel, Bill Dougherty, said the street violence in Sydney's CBD could not be attributed to people drinking in pubs and clubs after midnight.

"The two people that were killed in Kings Cross, the attacks occurred at 9pm and 10pm and it wasn't outside a pub," Mr Dougherty said.

"What does that tell you about the thinking behind the bans?"

He agrees with research the Australian Hotels Association has released that says thugs roaming the street fuelled on drugs, alcohol and testosterone are the main problem.

AHA NSW director of policing John Green said bans the government had proposed would be counter-productive and likely to push more people out into the street.

"We believe more needs to be done to target the criminals who think it is okay to pre-fuel on drugs and/or alcohol then roam the streets at will, attacking others," he said.

"Some organisations are again using an incident which occurred early in the evening to call for mandatory lockouts and closures from hotels at 1.30am.

"Yet no one seems to be able to explain how this would help."

Grafton District Services Club chief executive Garry Williams predicted Mr O'Farrell's statement on widening the bans to the rest of the state.

He noted whatever happened in Sydney eventually found its way "up here", but felt in some ways the local establishments were ahead of the game.

"We have our problems here, but it's nothing like Sydney," he said.

"I think people around here know each other, so you don't have the anonymity down there, so people tend to pull their heads in a bit.

"We don't allow people in after 10pm and we also provide a variety of entertainment.

"Better-quality entertainment is certainly a way of keeping patrons in a happy state of mind."

Originally published as Publican not convinced pub ban is the answer