12:40pm Monday 15th March 2010
By Emily Walker, Chief Reporter
Pubs could soon be opening for beer at breakfast.
Pub chain JD Wetherspoon, which has 15 branches across in Sussex, has announced plans to open almost all of its bars from 7am next month and bartenders will start pouring pints of beer from 9am from April 28.
Three of the pubs wanting to open their doors two hours early fall within the area that could be covered by an extended alcohol crackdown zone.
As revealed in The Argus on Friday Brighton and Hove City Council is considering doubling the size of the zone in which it is harder for pubs and off-licences to be granted licences to sell alcohol.
The chain's West Street branch, the Bright Helm, is already in city’s Cummulative Impact Area, the part of the city faced with the most alcohol related disorder.
If councillors on Brighton and Hove City Council's licensing committee agree the plans, the chain's pubs in George Street and at Brighton Marina could also fall within the restricted area.
However, the chain said the early opening hours were more about selling coffee and breakfast.
A spokesman said: “This is very much about serving a breakfast and coffee.'
He added: 'Only about 1per cent of people who come in at 9am will want an alcoholic drink and we are happy to serve them, why shouldn't we?
“But this is not what we are after, we want to target the breakfast market.”
Brighton and Hove director of public health Tom Scanlon said: “I think it is very important that the impact on public health should be taken into consideration.
“We have a high number of alcohol related admissions to hospital.”
© Copyright 2001-2012 Newsquest Media Group
http://www.theargus.co.uk/trade_directory/