Pubwatch is the licensed trade's equivalent of Neighbourhood Watch. The main differences are that they are more active and effective than most Neighbourhood Watch Schemes. Pubwatch schemes have been in existence throughout the UK for over 40 years and range in size from over 200 premises in cities to small rural schemes with as little as 5 premises involved.
The basic principle involved in a Pubwatch is that the licensees of the premises involved agree on a number of course’s of action against those individuals who cause or threaten damage, disorder, violence, use or deal in drugs in their premises or are a general nuisance. Normally this action consists of agreeing to refuse to serve individuals that cause, or are known to have previously caused, these sorts of problems. Having agreed these policies, they then publicise them and stick to them. The publicity alone can have a very significant effect on such problems but refusing admission and service to those that cause trouble has proved to have a significant impact on anti-social behaviour.
Commitment by all members of the Watch is essential if the scheme is to succeed, as is good and effective communication between them about troublemakers and problems. Most Watches utilise a communication system, ringing round, pagers or radios to pass on information about people refused entry or ejected for causing trouble. In this way the problem is excluded and not allowed to go from premises to premises.
A number of schemes have widened their activity to set policies about how they will tackle other issues in their area, such as under age drinking, domestic violence and drugs use, if it is a problem.
It can protect staff and customers, preserve and improve value trade and fosters good working relationships with the Police, Local authorities and the Courts. It costs little except some time and effort with considerable potential for benefit. It is also a demonstration to these authorities and the local community of the social responsibility of the licensed trade.
It is also arguably a means to discharge a part of a licensee’s Health & Safety responsibility to his/her staff and customers. If possible assault and/or violence are identified as a risk presented by certain individuals that might visit their premises this ought to be included in their general risk assessment for the premises and actions such as refusing entry would be the method of mitigating or eliminating that particular risk. Back to FAQs
Ideally who should run the pubwatch?
Licensee’s should be the officers of the pubwatch and they should be responsible for running the watch as it is about the standards they wish to maintain in relation to the use of their premises. In addition as a voluntary body of this nature they avoid some of the Human Rights Act obligations that would be applicable to their activities if the police, local authority or other statutory body held the responsibility for operating the scheme.
This does not however preclude the pubwatch from working in co-operation and with the support of the Police, Local Authority or other Statutory Body. Quite the opposite, as to function effectively, the watch will need help and support from these agencies who also have a legal duty to work in partnership with others such as pubwatch to tackle crime and disorder issues.
It is important that this involvement does not include participation in the decision making of the watch but can include the provision of information and advice. Back to FAQs
What impact does pubwatch have on reducing incidents of disorder in licensed premises?
Quite a considerable impact in some instances. Our on going survey of pubwatch schemes in the UK shows that in some cases crime and disorder, not just in the premises but in the local area, has reduced by between 20% & 80% where steps have been taken to evaluate the impact of the scheme.. The general average is 45-55% reduction.
It is important that schemes take steps to evaluate their impact and progress from an early stage as it proves their contribution to dealing with local issues and is very helpful in supporting bids by the pubwatch for finance from various crime prevention panels and other sources of funding.
If you are in a watch and have not participated in the survey please take a minute to complete the survey questionnaire , it will only take a minute or two. Back to FAQs
What types of technology are available to help a pubwatch?
There are radio systems to help instant communication between watch members which are sometimes linked into the police or Town Centre CCTV control rooms. Watches that cannot afford to utilise such systems for quick communication have some other alternatives these include, text paging on mobiles or normal paging schemes and in rural areas with only a few premises in the scheme they operate a ring round system using the normal phone.
In this computer age there are now schemes that are totally computer based such as Pubwatch Online but these require every site in the watch to have access to the internet and are accessed using secure passwords to meet Data Protection requirements.
In addition for premises that have controlled entry there are computer schemes that register users and check them to see if they are banned and to ensure any ID produced to prove they are over 18 is legitimate. The same system provides a marketing tool for the premises.
Where there may be a problem with weapons or drugs being brought on to licensed premises there are search wands that can be used at entrances to quickly see if patrons are carrying metal implements. In the case of drugs there are now machines available that will quickly analyse swabs taken from hands or surfaces to provide a relatively efficient analysis of the main drugs currently in use. Back to FAQs
There is no pubwatch in my area how do I go about starting one?
To actually start a watch scheme if there is no scheme in existence in your area we recommend that you enlist the support of your local police officer or police/local authority licensing officer together with some other local like minded licensees. Set up an inaugural meeting inviting all your local liquor license holders and explain the benefits of a watch scheme, something that is of great importance under the new Licensing Act. You should then propose that a Watch is formed and use the National Pubwatch good practice booklet for guidance as to the things that you should consider including in your constitution and rules. The most important element is an acceptance by members that they abide by the decisions of the Pubwatch as it is the unity of action that makes the watch effective. If people are not prepared to abide by decisions they should not be members of the watch.
If you need any additional help at any stage get in touch with National Pubwatch as we have other items of support and can often arrange for one of our committee people to attend your inaugural meeting and help out.
We strongly recommend that the watch is run by licensees and supported by police with advice and information etc, this formula tends to ensure the watch lasts and it avoids having to follow certain Human Rights Act requirements. We also strongly recommend research before the introduction of the watch to ascertain the current position with regard to crime and disorder as this will factually prove the watch’s success or otherwise. Back to FAQs
How long should Pubwatch ban be?
This is very much down to the views of the watch who must decide if they are going to deal with each case individually according to its circumstances or work to an agreed tariff of bans for particular categories of activity. What ever the watch decides they need to acknowledge that there will always be instances where there is a need to treat a case as exceptional and outside the scope of their normal course of action.
Some watches impose life bans for particular offences such as serious assaults on staff or drugs supply and it is very much up to each watch to decide what is appropriate for their area according to local issues.
Many watches offer those banned an opportunity to have a reduced ban, (6months less) if they provide a passport size photograph of themselves for use by the watch to identify them.
Some schemes impose additional bans for individuals that attempt to breach any ban previously imposed. Back to FAQs
Other than Pubs and Clubs, which groups/businesses/organisations have joined pubwatch groups and is it a good idea to include them?
Many pubwatches also include other premises that hold a premises licence such as Hotels, restaurants, Clubs and bowling alleys. There are some town centre watches that include their late night fast food outlets, as the people that tend to present a problem to the pubwatch often are problematic for these other late night outlets.
Some pubwatches also include taxi firms that ask to be included again they often experience problems with the same people as the watch.
Many areas have other schemes such as Shopwatch or organisations linking day time economy with the night time and whilst these should not form part of a watch it is recommended that a pubwatch maintains some liaison and link with these groups in order to exchange information and intelligence about issues that affect everyone. Back to FAQs
How can a pubwatch circulate photos of people who have received bans without breaching data protection regulations?
As has been mentioned before, some pubwatches offer reductions in the ban if the subject provides a passport size photograph for use by the pubwatch. In cases such as this there is no breach of the regulation as the subject has provided the picture.
Many pubwatches have an agreed protocol with the local police service that enables the police to provide photos of banned persons, if they have them, to the watch for use by the members to brief staff on banned people. In such cases the protocol sets out the strict conditions of use which include no public display and controlled use for staff only and the photo must be returned once the ban is finished. Examples of the protocol and other associated paperwork can be found in the appendices of our Good Practice Guide. Each police service that has such a protocol (not all do) tends to have slightly different operating practices and policies.
If a watch intends to use photos obtained from their own CCTV or other sources then they must be registered with the Information Commissioner for this purpose and have their own set of protocols that meet with the key principles of the Data Protection Acts.
Pictures that are publicly available such as in the local press can also be used. Back to FAQs
How can a watch ensure pubwatch bans do not breach Human Rights legislation?
Human Rights legislation only applies to public bodies and these are normally accepted as national or local government bodies or controlling organisations setup under statutory regulation. As pubwatch is no more than a local group of people who have got together on a voluntary basis, they are not required to take account of this legislation. If you consider the origins of the legislation it was created initially in Europe to safeguard populations from oppression by their Governments. It was not, and is not, intended to affect a voluntary group such as a pubwatch from taking action to protect themselves and their patrons by excluding others from their premises.
All those premises holding a premises licence as with most other businesses have the right to not supply or serve or grant access to anyone they choose provided they do not do so as an act of discrimination on the grounds set out in the relevant legislation.
Effectively a person has no ‘Right’ to enter and consume drink in a pub or club unless the licence holder agrees. Back to FAQs
A Pub or Club in our area refuses to join our pubwatch, what should we do?
As pubwatch is a voluntary activity, joining is the choice of the licence holder and some decide they do not want to join or apply the majority decisions of the watch over who can be served. This is their right and the pubwatch will not be affected by this. In time the premises in question may find that their customers are the problem people banned from all the other premises and may decide to have a change of heart.
In the case of a Club they may actually have a problem in joining a watch if they are a members club as membership gives them certain rights in relation to the premises. Normally members of clubs cannot be refused access or service unless they have breached the clubs rules which means that if they are banned by the pubwatch for an incident at premises other than the club the ban would not be enforceable by the club unless there rules allowed for this. Back to FAQs
Is membership of pubwatch compulsory in any part of the country and is compulsory membership a good idea?
When the new premise licences were introduced in November 2005 some licensing authorities obtained conditions for licences in their area that required all premises to be members of the pubwatch. Whilst we advised against this, that advice was either ignored or not received. Our reasoning for taking this stance is, because pubwatch is a voluntary activity by premises that hold a premises licence. Consequently it can collapse at very short notice due to a variety of reasons such as lack of funding, people unwilling to take up the offices of the watch or due to general apathy. In the strict term of the law, if this happened in an area where membership was a condition of the licence it is an offence, namely failing to comply with a condition of the licence. We see this as problematic for all concerned.
Similarly if a premise is thrown out of a scheme for breach of the rules or refusing to conform to the majority decisions of the watch and such a condition was present the same problem would arise.
However we do think that pubwatch should be acknowledged by the Licensing Authorities and Police as a demonstration of good management and a commitment to the four Licensing Objectives.
In some area’s Business Improvement Districts have been used to fund membership to pubwatch as an element of the scheme. This often works out as a cheaper option. An example is Coventry where members get Radios, Evening Ambassadors, CCTV, Graffiti removal within 24hrs, free advertising in a quarterly magazine. Extra floral displays for Britain in Bloom and jet washing out side their premises and removal of chewing gum from out side their premises environmental improvements all for 0.95% for their business rates. Back to FAQs
National Pubwatch is an entirely voluntary organisation set up to support existing pubwatches and encourage the creation of new pubwatch schemes with the key aim of achieving a safe, secure and responsibly led social drinking environment in all licensed premises throughout the UK helping to reduce alcohol-related crime.
Through a database of watches and people involved in Pubwatch it provides good practice and other related information, circulated by means of a newsletter and the good practice guide. Advice can be provided on problem issues and how to actually go about setting up a watch. In addition members of its Committee attend seminars and meetings to give presentations on Pubwatch and raise issues of concern found by pubwatch schemes at a national level with government and other agencies in an attempt to resolve them. They also, by request, attend local inaugural watch meetings and most are or have been involved in pubwatches. Back to FAQs
What has it done?
It has created the first national database of watches in the UK and provided a national voice for the concerns and problems facing schemes that are trying to prevent crime and violence in and around licensed premises. Too date they have assisted in the creation of over 400 new watch schemes and provided advice support and assistance to numerous existing schemes across the country.
It publishes and maintains a good practice guide and distributes free newsletters with advice and good practice information.
Over time it has encouraged and supported several Pub companies to adopt positive policies towards pubwatch in their estate as well as opening links with industry bodies and the Home Office. As a consequence, most local authorities and police services in England & Wales, are aware of the support it can provide for watch schemes and Community Safety crime & disorder plans. This has raised the profile of Pubwatch generally too such an extent it was mentioned in the Section 182 guidance to the last Licensing Act.
Due to the good offices of its founders it has obtained parliamentary support for Pubwatch and at an early stage obtained a logo for national use on window stickers and posters for use by watches. Anyone watching TV soaps may notice the logo displayed on pubs that feature in them.
Since its inception National Pubwatch has provided support for various industry initiatives on social responsibility and run four successful conferences around the country covering the principle issues that affect pubwatches at a local level. Back to FAQs
Where do I go for further advice on pubwatch?
If you need more help than is available to you on the website, contact any of our representatives through the contact information shown on the site. Other contacts that may be able to help are your Local Authority Licensing officers, many of whom are well equipped to answer questions and help, or your local police Licensing officer.
Remember if you if you want help or advice about pubwatch we have a vast amount of experience on the problems that can face a watch or individuals seeking to set one up so we will probably be able to answer your questions and provide the help needed. Back to FAQs
Does our Pubwatch need Indemnity Insurance?
It is not essential but it is prudent to consider it an we would recommend that you do it as past experience has shown that even though no one has successfully sued or prosecuted a pubwatch to our knowledge at least three have over the last 4 years had to seek legal support to defend themselves and this has proved very expensive to the watch and individuals.For information on insurance companies that offer such insurance click here