HALTON landlords claim the 'jury is still out' on the Government's decision to relax Britain's drinking laws.

While 90% of businesses in Widnes and Runcorn have successfully been granted modifications to their hours of trade under the new Licensing Act, there are still fears the changes could spark a rise in alcohol-fuelled violence.

Others think 'sensible' drink-ers should be given the right to buy a drink whenever they want one - no matter what time of the day or night.

One landlord, who does not want to be named, said: 'I have been in this game a long time and 24-hour drinking will simply encourage drinkers to drink more and if that person cannot handle their alcohol, then there could be a problem for landlords moving them on.

'Some individuals get violent when they have had a drink and these new laws could see an increase in this type of behaviour.'

Although there is widespread concern across the police force, which claims that Britain's youth may adopt similar behaviour to that experienced by boozing Brits in popular holiday resorts like Faliraki and Ibiza, the majority of Halton's public houses have only tweaked their hours of service to accommodate trade at their respective outlets and are therefore not expecting more trouble from customers.

Another licensee added: 'Many managers I have spoken to have only applied for an extra couple of hours on each night. This does not mean we will stay open until that particular time - on some nights there won't be people out drinking and it would cost you more to pay the staff than to keep the pub open.

'People who run pubs are not stupid and they serve people at their discretion. Just because their hours may be longer it does not necessarily mean trouble, as trouble could just as easily kick off at 3pm as 3am.'

Rob Hayward, chief executive of the British Beer and Pub Association, echoed those thoughts. He said: 'Predictions that pubs will be open for 24 hours were wide of the mark and have not been borne out by the trend in applications.

'Applications for extended hours are generally for an extra hour or so on a Friday and Saturday night, from community pubs and not from city centre locations.

'Scotland has recently reviewed its licensing hours which are much more flexible than in England and Wales. Neither the police nor the judges asked for a return to English hours, let alone something more draconian.

'Every New Year's Eve, for the last three years, flexible hours have been tried and tested. The result has been less disorder and fewer problems than on the average Friday night.'

However, last December Cheshire Police arrested 72 people for a 'variety of offences' over a two-week period in Widnes as part of their 'Yellow Card' campaign against booze-fuelled violence.

Already Halton Borough Council has received three separate objections to the licensing hours of at least three pubs from scores of residents in Widnes and Runcorn. Objections include concern about potential: * Noise nuisance in the early hours of the morning. * Anti-social behaviour from patrons leaving the premises. * People swearing, shouting, arguing and urinating in the streets. * Vandalism and damage to property.

And as more bars flood the town and figures in violent crimes rise there are calls from some quarters to call time on binge drinking, to stop more cases of alcohol related crime in neighbourhoods like Halton.

Srabani Sen, Alcohol Concern's chief executive, said:

'The report from the police shows a 7% rise in violent crimes reported over the last year when other crime rates are falling. In addition, the British Crime Survey shows a slight increase in perception of anti-social behaviour in local communities and increased concern about drunken behaviour.

'Government plans laid out in the Violent Crime Reduction Bill show they have made the link between binge-drinking and violent crime.

'We welcome ideas such as Drink Banning Orders and Alcohol Disorder Zones, which may go some way to stopping incidents of violence and dis-order occurring.

'However, we believe that a punitive stance is only half of the solution and must go hand in hand with a more pro-active approach to tackle the root causes of binge drinking and prevent incidents of crime occurring in the first place.

'That must involve better alcohol education at every level and a commitment to identifying individuals whose drinking is causing a problem and ensuring they get the support they need to deal with it.

'Arrest-referral schemes have been shown to reduce reoffending rates among problem drinkers and we hope the Government will give them national support as part of their wider strategy to tackle violent crime.'