Opening hours extended for Kirkintilloch nightclub

A Kirkintilloch nightclub has had its opening hours extended to help it avoid losing business to Glasgow rivals.

At a recent meeting of East Dunbartonshire Council’s licensing board, councillors approved a request from club owners P&R Randev, who lease the club to the Bowman family, to allow them to open until 4am on Fridays, Saturdays, and on Sundays preceding public holidays as well as at Christmas and Hogmanay.

They claimed that the previous opening hours were harming trade with patrons preferring to use the clubs in Glasgow, which were open until 4am, and on one particularly poor evening they had just six customers.

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The police had objected to the request, with Police Scotland chief constable Ian Livingstone writing  to the board to recommend the club be restricted to a 3am closing time.

The meeting was chaired by Councillor Gary Pews, deputising for Councillor Jim Gibbons. He commented after the meeting: “The police were concerned about the possibility of setting a precedent, but this is the one and only nightclub in East Dunbartonshire.”

The East Dunbartonshire Health and Social Care Partnership had also objected to the application on grounds of public health. Chief officer Susan Manion said: “The HSCP highlight that this area of Kirkintilloch suffers from particularly poor alcohol-related health statistics.

“Research shows that in all the measures the HSCP use to determin alcohol related harm including alcohol related emergency admissions, deaths associated with alcohol, alcohol related brain damaned and mental health discharges, are all higher in Kirkintilloch West or comparable to that of East Dunbartonshire, NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde and Scotland.”

Club Bliss was approached for comment.