A HOTEL owner yesterday defended a decision to open his bar for 31 consecutive hours in what is being advertised as a "New Year marathon".
The event at the Cube Bar in Peterhead, Aberdeenshire, which runs from 6pm on December 31 to 1.30am on January 2, has been criticised by alcohol awareness groups and politicians, who say it is irresponsible and will encourage binge drinking.
But yesterday Carl-Henning Hansen, owner of Hennings Hotel, where the bar is based, said this was not the case.
"We did exactly the same last year and both the police and the licensing board were very happy with how it went, " he said.
"There was not one call to the police or one incident.
"The majority of people who are coming will be regular customers who know we do not allow binge drinking and we do not serve people who are intoxicated.
"Anyone who is rowdy or does not behave themselves will not be allowed to stay."
He added that there would be an increased number of bouncers on the door of the bar, which has a capacity of several hundred, and that they had a CCTV system to pinpoint any trouble.
The event is advertised on the bar's website as a "New Year Marathon". It adds: "We Will Make It! ! Will You? ?"
Revellers will be given a wristband so that they can go home and return if they wish.
Shona Robison, SNP health spokeswoman, said that although bar management may have tight controls in place, she was concerned about the way the event was being promoted.
"It is being sold as an event where you drink as much as you can for as long as you can and that is irresponsible.
"I appreciate no harm was done last year, but we are in a climate in Scotland where we need to begin to address the binge-drinking culture."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article