By Giancarlo Rinaldi South of Scotland reporter, BBC Scotland news website

The Globe Inn has been in Dumfries for nearly 400 years

A sign at the door reminds the clientele it was established in 1610 and it proudly boasts Robert Burns as one of its more famous customers.

It hopes to be around for some time to come - but owner Maureen McKerrow says plans to increase licensing fees will not help small businesses like hers.

She fears the measures being discussed in the Scottish Parliament might see her industry turn full circle.

"The reason why the licensing law was brought in many, many years ago was that people were drinking in bothies - they were drinking alone," she said.

There are just not enough people coming through the door and we have just been hit by another price rise for beer from the brewery Maureen McKerrow Dumfries publican Licensing costs rise backed

"The government decided it was time it was brought in-house."

Part of the rationale behind increasing licence costs now is to ensure that the people profiting from alcohol help monitor the resulting social impact.

However, Ms McKerrow, a former head of the Scottish Licensed Trade Association, claimed the move was targeting the wrong businesses.

She said more people were now buying their alcohol on special offer in supermarkets or other stores and then drinking it at home or on the streets.

With small pubs already going out of business she said there was a danger of making drinking a less social pastime - just as it was when legislation was first introduced.

"There are a lot of pubs in Dumfries that are suffering," she warned.

"Because of the smoking ban customer numbers are falling, as we all know, while wages go up and rates and electricity costs rise.

"This is a massive blow to small business."

Ms McKerrow said more people bought alcohol in supermarkets

Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill robustly defended the moves at committee on Tuesday.

Under the regime, premises with a rateable value above �140,000 would pay a maximum charge of �2,000.

At the lower end of the scale there would be a maximum application fee of �800, plus a maximum annual fee of �220.

Mr MacAskill said that the new fees would end years of the licensing system being subsidised by the taxpayer, saying just 63% of running costs were met from fees.

He said: "Clearly the licensed trade want that subsidised something-for-nothing system to continue.

"But the government does not and I would suggest the public do not want it either."

However, Ms McKerrow - a licensee for more than 30 years - said the industry was already under severe financial pressure.

She stressed that it had also invested in its own initiatives to reduce anti-social behaviour, such as Dumfries and Galloway's Make Our Bars Safer scheme.

Several closed

"The last thing a publican wants is somebody that is out of control and fighting," she said.

Any increase in costs, she argued, would disproportionately affect businesses which were not part of the larger chains or were in rural areas like Dumfries and Galloway.

"A number of smaller bars are going to close down during the week and there are several that have now closed completely," she said.

"There are just not enough people coming through the door and we have just been hit by another price rise for beer from the brewery.

"There are a lot of the smaller ones that are beginning to think - is it worth being open?"