Club in TV row signs booze deal

A CLUB which hit the national headlines with a £5.99 drinks promotion has signed up to pioneering proposals to tackle Oldham’s Wild West image.

Tokyo Project is the latest town centre premises to reach an agreement to restrict the impact of cheap alcohol deals.

The Roscoe street night-spot hit the headlines in January with a £5.99 all-you -can-drink offer. Oldham’s shocking binge-drinking violence was then highlighted in the BBC Panorama programme “The Truth about the Happy Hour” — along with the work to tackle it.

Oldham Council threatened a blanket review of all 22 town centre pub and club licences. This would have forced them to introduce post office-style queues during deals and promotions, have more door staff and pay for police officers.

Instead, all but three have now have now agreed to individual conditions which have been backed by Trading Standards and the police. These range from the post office-style queuing to extra door staff and a risk assessment of any promotions.

Along with Tokyo, the other agreements approved by yesterday’s Licensing Panel were Mink (formerly Livingstones), Fairbottom Street; The Castle, Union Street; and Bamboogie and Vogue, both Yorkshire Street. None of the licensees attended.

Oldham is the first place in the country to carry out such an overhaul.

Councillor Mark Alcock told the Evening Chronicle that other local authorities, as well as the Government, were looking at what it was doing

He said: “We got to the point where many of the premises were introducing £5.99 drink all you can. It was attracting the wrong type of people into Oldham.

“We want a thriving night-time economy for everybody to come and enjoy.”