Precinct drunks leave sour taste

NOT to blame . . . Rumours owner Gail Clarke has defended her bar and customers

Fed-up shoppers bid to ban bench louts
HACKED-OFF shoppers want Oldham Council chiefs to call time on nuisance drunks at Royton Precinct — by banning outdoor boozing.

They say drinkers spilling into the precinct are driving away business with foul language and noise — and they leave the area strewn with broken glass.

On Facebook, a campaign to ban or allow outdoor drinking resulted in 140 people calling for a ban.

But Gail Clarke, owner of Rumours, a bar at the heart of the precinct, insisted youngsters are to blame, not her customers.

Royton South councillor Steve Bashforth said: “If the drinkers were behaving themselves it would not be so bad.’

Gail Clarke, owner of Rumours, is baffled by claims her bar is sparking problems.

She said: “People are complaining about the noise and swearing and we’re getting the blame, but it’s not just our customers out there.

“The biggest problem is underage drinkers who are buying alcohol from the shops and bringing it out on to the precinct. We don’t serve under-age customers.

“We have a boundary around the bar and if people go any further than that we ask them to come back. But when all is said and done, people just want to have a nice time in the sun.”

READ the full version of this story only in our print and eChron editions
Follow us on Twitter - @OldhamChronicle