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Takeaway owners – violence is not our fault
Dixie Fried Chicken, Church Street, Preston, who have been given new licensing rules to abide by after police got fed up with the number of incidents linked to the premises late at night. They have to employ door staff after 2am and new CCTV systems. Photo: David Hurst
In the past few months, the Dixi Fried Chicken and Dixi Plus premises, both in Church Street, have been subjected to licence review requests following concerns from the police.
Some takeaways have also employed doorstaff after new licence conditions were introduced by Preston Council at the end of 2011.
The Evening Post visited takeaways in and around Church Street on a busy weekday night to speak to takeaway workers about the police claims.
Most said they did not want to comment.
However, one man, who said he was the manager of a takeaway, told our reporter: “What are we supposed to do? If people come in drunk because the nightclubs have given them too much, they are going to cause problems.
“We have CCTV but we cannot afford to have door staff like the pubs and bars, they are the ones the police should be blaming.
“They get them drunk and we get the problems.”
Police requested last year that the licence at Dixi Fried Chicken be reviewed by the council after a number of incidents including an assault in November in which a 20-year-old man suffered a broken jaw when there were no bouncers on duty.
Police also asked for Dixi Plus’ licence to be revoked, after recording 16 incidents in a six-month spell, including one in which a man was hospitalised following a fight. However, an adjournment was later requested to allow the owners to take their own action.
Coun Drew Gale, who represents the city centre on Preston Council, said: “I am concerned and I will be approaching the chief inspector to have a chat with him about it.
“I’m surprised to hear it is the takeaways and I wonder whether it is because the pubs are better at dealing with problems now.
“We are a long way off where we used to be - the police are exceptional at policing it now but there is always room for improvement.”
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Sunday 19 May 2013
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