TRICKY discussions are ahead involving an over-stretched police force and Bolton licensees.

The booming "evening economy" is resulting in an ever-increasing number of bars and clubs in the Bradshawgate, Deansgate and Churchgate areas.

Young people who think nothing of spending upwards of £40 on a night out are presumably helping most of them to make a tidy profit.

The police, who have a duty to keep the streets as safe as possible, find it necessary to maintain a high-profile presence in order to keep alcohol-related incidents down to a minimum.

This costs money and you cannot blame Supt Simon Barraclough of Bolton Police for suggesting that business owners might care to make a contribution. In Nottingham, it seems, city centre pubs and clubs are to be asked to pay a direct "tax" to the police.

Whether this happens in Bolton depends on discussions which are due to take place shortly.

There is some merit in the police suggestion -- police activity directed at drink-fuelled revellers must surely create gaps elsewhere in the town.

But we have some sympathy with owners who need to be on top of their game to obtain a licence in the first place and then run the premises satisfactorily enough to keep it.

They act as tax collectors through the sale of liquid products, pay council tax and provide employment for local people -- some of them large gentlemen who contribute "door control".

Voluntary contributions would seem to be the answer, but we suspect the response would be unenthusiastic.