Chelmsford police patrols will be taking to the town's streets to tackle the consequences of extended drinking hours for the area's pubs and bars. But resources could be fragmented across the borough by the revised openings.

Many town centre bars and clubs will now stay open until 2am or 3am on Friday and Saturdays, but pubs in areas such as Moulsham, Springfield and Melbourne may only be opening until midnight.

Senior police licensing officer Martin Reed warned that the extended openings that came into force at midnight yesterday, mean a shift in closing times and the end of the blanket 11pm kicking-out time for pubs and bars.

This will split police resources across the Chelmsford division, and could create new hotspots for disturbances and anti-social behaviour but police say they will be able to handle any difficulties

Increased police patrols will be in Chelmsford tonight, Friday and Saturday, as part of Operation Dream Machine, a month-long zero tolerance policing crackdown finishing next week.

Chelmsford police divisional commander, Ch Supt Win Bernard, said: "All we can do is police as we need to and respond as we need to. We don't anticipate there is any reason people will be so out of hand we can't cope. I hope most people are going to behave reasonably.

"We have Operation Dream Machine running this weekend and that will give us the information in order to plan for the future."

Chelmsford Borough Council has processed applications for 150 pubs, bars and nightclubs, 70 off-licences and supermarkets, 50 private members clubs, 40 restaurants, 25 village and community halls, 15 sports clubs, 15 takeaways, 10 hotels and five theatres and cinemas. A small number of premises have yet to be licensed and face prosecution if they continue trading.