A FRESH bid has been launched in Clitheroe to crack down on the number of violent assaults outside town centre pubs.

The Town Mayor's Fund has given a grant of £1,500 to the Clitheroe Community Safety Partnership to purchase polycarbonate glasses to be used in the town in the run up to Christmas.

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The money, which was raised during Coun Kevin Horkin's civic year as town mayor, will go towards buying around 3,000 glasses for the town which will be distributed to most of the main town centre pubs over the next few weeks.

The scheme, which has previously been run in the town, will see polycarbonate glasses replace traditional glasses on the busiest nights of the week and the weekends in an attempt to cut the number of assaults in and outside the pubs.

Among the pubs already involved include the Swan and Royal, White Lion, The Dog Music and Sports Bar and The Buck Inn.

Rendezvous in Whalley also takes part in the scheme and the police, which helps to distribute the glasses, is hoping that The Castle pub will start to use the new glasses soon.

The Brown Cow is expected to join when the new batch of glasses are delivered in the next few weeks.

The money is part of a larger grant to the Community Safety Partnership, chaired by Coun Horkin, which will see £1,000 go to the Clitheroe Youth Forum to provide activities in the town on Friday nights.

A further £1,000 will fund a new CanSave project which will see police patrol the streets and contact the parents of any youngster caught drinking under age in the town.

The grant will also provide £1,000-worth of funding to provide drubs wipes for pub owners and managers to use in their toilets to see if any illegal activity has taken place on their premises.

PC Cath Towler of Clitheroe police, said: "Using the polycarbonate glasses makes a real difference in Clitheroe and it helps to cut down on the number of violent assaults during the evenings.

"A lot of the town centre pubs are part of the scheme already and I hope that more will join as a result of this new grant.

"It's something that I have pushed for and the pub landlords are in favour of it continuing further than Christmas.

"We do not have a massive problem with glasses being used in assaults in the town but this scheme really helps in cutting what does happen down."

Coun Horkin said: "I'm pleased that the money that I raised last year is going to good use.

"It seems to be making a real difference in the town and the surrounding areas which is great news.

"As chairman of the partnership I'm very pleased that some of the money is being used to make our community a safer place."