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Time called on city's bar boom
Marie Burchill25/10/2007
MOVES are underway that could lead to a ban on new bars across parts of south Manchester.
Councillor Sheila Newman, a member of Manchester City Council’s ruling executive committee, has asked for rules to be introduced preventing the opening of anymore drinking dens in Chorlton.
She says that the suburb is becoming overrun with pubs and bars which are damaging the day-time economy and creating a booze culture.
Community leaders in Fallowfield, Didsbury and Withington want the ban extended to their areas which they say are suffering from the same kind of problems.
Coun Newman said: “More and more bars are being allowed to open in south Manchester and, if the situation carries on like this, Chorlton will be overrun with them. The high streets are already dominated by bars - we do not need any more.
“We are in the process of putting together a plan for our neighbourhood but if these bars keep getting the go-ahead all of our planning will have been for nothing.
“Unless there is a ban, bars will keep opening and our high streets will become a real mess.”
Twenty two new bars have opened in Chorlton in the last 14 years.
Coun Newman has asked planning and licensing officers to introduce a moratorium which would effectively put a ban on the opening of new bars.
The move, which would need the approval of the council chamber, would prevent would-be bar owners from getting approval for new establishments at the planning and licensing stage.
Coun Newman wants the moratorium to be put in place until a new Neighbourhood Plan is drawn up which she hopes will include strict limits on the number of new bars that can open in different areas.
Withington councillor Alison Firth has also asked for a moratorium to be put in place in her own ward.
She said: “We have problems owing to the number of student pubs and bars in the area. The bars are generating a lot of noise and disturbance for residents.”
Roger Smith, of Withington Civic Society, backed a possible ban. He said: “We already have a moratorium on takeaways which has worked very well so far.”
Steve Parle, vice-chair of Didsbury Civic Society, said: “I want a temporary ban on bars in Didsbury, until all the work is done on the regeneration framework. I think it would be of great benefit to the area and is something that should be imposed.
“We already have enough bars and, although they are better than empty shops, more of them is not the answer.”
Brian McKeown, a resident of Hart Road in Fallowfield and a member of the Friends of Platt Fields group, said: “It is time for a ban. There are so many bars around here that there are not enough buildings left for shops.”
Some bar owners have also backed the move.
Tom Desantis, manager of Abode bar on Wilbraham Road in Chorlton, said: “There are a ridiculous amount of bars in Chorlton already and Varsity is next on the list to move in. It should have been introduced a long time ago.”
But Simon Brooks of The Bar – which was the first bar to open in Chorlton in 1993 - is against the ban. He said: “I don’t think a ban is very fair. If somebody wants to open a bar then they should be able to.”
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27/10/2007 at 18:13
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