Three local Pubwatch schemes will be going head-to-head for the top accolade at the prestigious National Pubwatch Awards 2022.
The awards recognise the work of local Pubwatch schemes and their efforts to provide safe drinking environments for customers and staff. The winner and two pubwatch schemes that will be highly commended will attend an awards dinner in House of Lords on 18thOctober 2022.
The awards, which are in their tenth year, are sponsored by JD Wetherspoon.
Three Pubwatch schemes in Pontypridd, Reading and Epsom have all been shortlisted as some of the best schemes in the country this year by National Pubwatch.
And the finalists are:
The Your Pontypridd Pubwatch
Pontypridd, like many towns, had a difficult transition since the end of the worst of the Covid-19 pandemic and despite all the setbacks it remains a highly attended Pubwatch scheme.
Over the past 12 to 18 months the scheme has reviewed and improved its processes and strengthened its relationship with key stakeholders.
One of the key issues the Pubwatch has looked at in depth is recovering from the effects of Covid-19. There have been many first-time users of venues who are now old enough to go out for a drink after the pandemic and the scheme has responded to the dangers this may present i.e., drink spiking awareness and working with vulnerable young people.
The Pubwatch works very closely with local representatives, the local authority, South Wales Police and the local Business Improvement District (BID).
Several members of Pubwatch have also worked with the Neighbourhood Policing Team to be part of the ‘Cupper with a Copper’ scheme. The Pubwatch group was granted funding from the BI to put on a face-to-face two-hour training session with Stamp Out Spiking and venues also received 2,500 StopTopps to help protect drinks in venues. The local BID asked several members of the Pubwatch group to take part in a promotional film to talk about the measures in place in Pontypridd’s night-time economy town.
If incidents do take place in venues, the ambulance service can sometimes take a while to respond and in response to this two of the Pubwatch venues now host an ‘Emergency Grab Bag’ which is part of a town project created by the Neighbourhood Watch. The bag contains bandages, foil blankets and various other medical equipment to help treat a person who may have been injured.
Reading Pubwatch
Reading town centre Pubwatch was originally formed back in 2004 as the Reading Licensees Association in response to the local council’s consultation process for the development of their Statement of Local Licensing Policy under the new Licensing Act 2003. The following year the committee changed the name to Reading Pubwatch and facilitated the setting up of several Pubwatch groups in the suburbs of Greater Reading and another with Reading University.
Reading Pubwatch has launched a range of new initiatives over the past twelve months including a new standard operating procedures for licensed premises (SOPs) and a robust banning system, that has had over one hundred offenders being banned for a period of three months through to five years recorded on the DISC system.
It has also implemented Spikey’s awareness campaign to prevent spiking of drinks; Ask for Angela; the use of numbered hi vis tabards for dispersal funded by the BID and training on the protection of vulnerable individuals. The Reading Pubwatch has also run two anti-terrorist seminars- SCaN and ACT. There have been three main focuses for the Pubwatch over the past year including increasing security searches on entry with metal detectors, issuing of cardiac defibrillators and the safeguarding of vulnerable persons.
The Reading town centre Pubwatch group continues to be a strong and impactful force that serves to bring together valued initiatives that strengthen NTE venues, visitors and staff. The PubWatch and the NTE venues work hand in hand with Street Pastors and the First Stop service (South Central Ambulance Service paramedics) helping to reduce A&E visits by almost 300 a year.
Epsom (Surrey)
The Pubwatch scheme has three main key focuses – to reduce anti-social crime across Epsom, to increase partnership working between all venues and police and to promote better security for staff and customers.
It operates the ‘Ask for Angela’ scheme and is in the process of obtaining radios for all venues in order to achieve better and faster communication. It has a communications group working with the managers of all the venues to help prevent crime which helps to reduce the risk of repeat offenders. By using this it also means it can implement additional deterrents such as including perpetrators in the Pubwatch licensee barring log.
The scheme works closely with police as well as the local pastor team
who help at key times when there is a heavier footfall.
It is also liaising with the local BID in order for them to become more involved and attend its regular meetings.
In recent months, spiking has also been a big focus for Epsom – the police are currently developing an initiative to help combat this with assistance from Epsom PubWatch. Within the community it is part of a social media initiative named ‘Go Epsom’. This is used to help all business’ increase trade but also to help promote fundraising days for charity and to help Surrey police by sharing anything related to crime within Epsom.
A new £2.5k grant, that the Pubwatch has helped to secure for the police, has helped to put uniformed officers on local streets, which has already seen a significant decrease in incidents.
