 The council wants to encourage a cafe and late restaurant society |
Pubs and clubs in Brighton have moved a step closer to 24-hour drinking after councillors approved plans to introduce more flexible opening hours. The move is to prevent binge drinking and violence, but critics say the problem will become worse.
Under new legislation the city council becomes responsible for licensing laws from next year - there are about 1,200 licensed premises in Brighton.
The plans will now go before Brighton's policy and resources committee.
Hotelier Mark Whiting, of Brighton Rocks, said: "We get a lot of tourists here who do not understand the fact that we shut at 2300 BST in the summer - and I've got a hotel.
 |  It is the 21st Century. It is right that we are allowed to drink and not have to go to a club  |
"They cannot understand they have to go to a club and they cannot just carry on drinking in a bar.
"They don't understand that is the way that things work in England.
"But it is the 21st Century. It is right that we are allowed to drink and not have to go to a club."
City councillor Don Turner said: "We hope to encourage a cafe and late restaurant society.
"By varying the times, we hope people will be able to come out of a club or out of a pub and go to a cafe and sit down and have a drink and something to eat there.
"And that will save us some of the problems that we get transporting people home at set times in the night."
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