EDINBURGH District Council's licensing board has decided to take no

action to ban drinking direct from the bottle in the city's pubs, clubs

and hotel bars. The decision was taken yesterday after councillors

considered reports from officials, the medical profession, police and

the trade. Members of the board were told that under existing

regulations it was likely they would be able to impose a ban on drinking

from the bottle only when granting extensions to the licensing hours and

then only when there had been a history of incidents of glass assault in

the premises.