‘Panorama’ backlash

Photo: Picture: VINCENT BROWN

Jordan Dalzell (left) and Darren Price outside The Old Bank

Town centre nowhere near as bad as it used to be, say pub managers

THE managers of a Yorkshire Street bar have hit out at the maker’s of the BBC’s “Panorama” programme for portraying Oldham as one of the worst places in the country for alcohol-related violence.

Monday night’s show threw the spotlight on Oldham’s binge-drinking culture and highlighted disturbing statistics which point to a 200 per cent increase in violent crime in Yorkshire Street in the first four months of this year.

But Jordan Dalzell, assistant manager at the Old Bank Bar, insisted that the town centre is a much safer place than it used to be and is less violent than other town’s he has worked in.

“I’m not saying that Oldham is Heaven, but I don’t think that the town centre is as bad as it was portrayed in the documentary,” he said.

“Oldham has improved significantly over the past two years and we can’t praise the police enough. There’s a huge police presence in Yorkshire Street on Friday and Saturday nights and the Pubwatch scheme has also made a lot of difference to the town centre.

“All you need to do is pop your head out of the door and if you need assistance, it’s there.

“They did come out with some worrying statistics on the programme, but they didn’t put them into context by comparing them with other towns. I used to work in Heywood and it was significantly worse than Oldham is.”

But Jordan and Old Bank manager Darren Price do back tough council moves, highlighted in the documentary, which will subject any bars with cheap drinks promotions to strict new rules, including the introduction of post office-style queuing systems at the bar and limiting people to buying two drinks at a time.

Mr Price said: “Here at Old Bank we have avoided bad behaviour because we don’t run any cheap drinks promotions, but those bars which do run silly promotions attract the wrong type of punter, so it’s only right that they should be subject to stricter rules.

“It’s important that all the bars don’t get tarred with the same brush, though.

“We tend to attract people aged 25 to 35 who are just out to have a nice night with their friends and it might put them off coming in if they can’t buy drinks in rounds.

“As long as responsible bars like ours are not subject to the same restrictions as bars which do run drinks promotions, then we fully support the council’s plans.”

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