Chorley pub landlord hits out
A maverick landlord has hit out at police in Chorley who he has accused of undermining his livelihood by wanting to restrict his licensing hours.
Police have carried out a review of the Swan with Two Necks and applied to Chorley Council to reduce the opening hours until 11pm every night.
It follows concerns about anti-social behaviour, violence and licensing issues.
The licensee at the pub is Denise Hogan, the wife of controversial smoking ban landlord Nick Hogan, who was fined for breaking the smoking ban.
Mr Hogan, who was recently selected as parliamentary candidate for Chorley for UKIP, said he thinks he's a victim of his high profile campaign against the smoking ban.
He said: "It's an absolute joke because my wife and I have been in the licensing trade for more than 20 years and have successfully run seven pubs in the north west. It beggars' belief."
The latest problem followed an incident earlier this month when staff failed to stop someone who was banned by the Pubwatch scheme from drinking in the pub on a Saturday night.
Mr Hogan said: "We have had one serious incident at the pub in the past three years and there was nothing we could do about that - we've got CCTV installed and have got door staff who can deal with any trouble.
"This is one of the busiest pubs in Chorley and we will fight the proposed change of licensing hours."
More than 200 of the pub's customers have written to Chorley Council to ask that licensing hours remain as they are, with closing time at 2am on Friday and Saturday.
Sgt Tony Bushell, licensing officer at Chorley police, said: "We have got some concerns about previous incidents at the premises and also about compliance issues with conditions attached to the licence.
"This has happened despite intervention by the local authority to offer advice and assurance, which seems to have been disregarded.
"There are also issues with regards to the management style at the premises.
"A police review has been carried out and we have worked with Chorley Council to try and help resolve the problems at the Swan wit Two Necks but it did not seem to have made a difference."
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Wednesday 23 May 2012
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