Near 3,000 licensed premises have five weeks to fill in forms or close

Assistant Chief Constable Mike Goodwin urged them to comply with the Licensing Act 2003 or shut their doors.

And he said they will be left high and dry - and unable to serve - when the act comes into force on 24 November.

Clubs, pubs, restaurants, hotels and off-licences only have until 6 August to apply to covert their licence. Only 600 out of 3,500 have signed up so far.

A further 1,300 businesses also need to apply for new licences, including takeaways that serve hot food after 11pm.

'Considerable concern'

Mr Goodwin spoke out after only a handful of people turned up at an event to explain the requirements to licensees and offer advice on filling in the required applications.

He said: "I can't stress enough how important it is that licensees take steps now to ensure they are in possession of the appropriate licence when the new Act comes into force in November.

"If they're not, they could find that, come Christmas, they may not be able to serve alcohol."

Mr Goodwin said the force cannot stand by and allow alcohol to be sold by unlicensed premises.