Police fear that a bid to sell more cheap shots at a Newcastle bar will turn it into a place for students to “fuel themselves” with cut-price booze.
Mosley Street club Bijoux is facing opposition from city authorities after asking for permission to expand its offer of £3 trebles from its ground floor to its first and second floors. The popular venue was the first in the city to offer lower alcohol 20% ABV shots, half the strength of the usual 40% and also sold at half the price.
Solicitor Christopher Rees-Gay told a Newcastle City Council hearing on Tuesday that the pricing policy helped reduce levels of drunkenness and that Bijoux boss Dan Miller wanted to extend the offer to the bar’s upstairs sections in order to make it an entirely student-focused venue every night of the week. Mr Rees-Gay claimed that the move would cause a “de-intensification” of activity on the city centre’s famous Diamond Strip because customers would likely stay in Bijoux for longer because of the new offers upstairs, rather than moving between different Diamond Strip clubs, and insisted that the deal does not make drinks cheaper for the level of alcohol received.
