Fears that new round-the-clock licences could spark binge drinking in the Braintree district have been dispelled.

For Braintree Council has not yet received any applications for extended licences and cannot see there being a particular interest in such a long extension.

Despite fears that 24-hour drinking will increase drunkenness and lead to problems across the country, very few places, if any, are likely to want to open for 24 hours.

Nadine Loveland, licensing services manager at Braintree Council, said: "I think we will probably get applications for longer hours because people want flexibility. We won't actually get 24-hour opening.

"We have to also bear in mind Joe Public only gets a limited amount of resources. Based on the facts, I think we will get quite a few request variations just to get flexibility."

Published Friday, February 11, 2005

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