FARNHAM successfully imbibed the first weekend of new licensing laws without any major hiccups, according to Surrey Police and Waverley Borough Council (WBC). With some 25 extensions of opening hours granted by WBC across the town, public houses prepared themselves to take advantage of more flexible opening hours. Yet the widespread fear of booze-fuelled excess, predicted by parts of the media, failed to materialise, marking something of a hangover for harbingers of doom. Old habits die hard it seems, and with many pubs opting to maintain the status quo, the seemingly smooth progression was noted by Waverley Borough Inspector Graham Weaver "There was no noticeable increase in alcohol- related crime in Farnham over the course of the weekend," he remarked. "Obviously the changes in opening hours did have an impact on the times that we were still being called to incidents, but in terms of volume, it was much the same as we would have seen on any other weekend." Yet Insp Weaver was keen to err on the side of caution concerning the future: "It is far too early to draw any conclusions from this and we will continue to closely monitor the situation," he asserted. Following the consideration of 850 applications, council licensing committee chairman, Len Bate commented: "Balancing the interests and wishes of residents with licensees who want to take advantage of the new system has been paramount to Waverley through this process. "We are continuing to work closely with applicants, residents and our partner organisations, to ensure that any extensions granted to licensing hours or activities do not cause nuisance or increase crime and disorder." "Although we are not anticipating any major issues with licensees failing to comply with their new conditions, the new legislation also provides Waverley with additional powers to hold a review of a licence if the council, neighbours or the police have concerns about a premises causing a nuisance," he said.
