Anti all-day booze cop wants his bar open.. 24 HOURS; CHIEF IN LICENCE BID.

Byline: By RICHARD SMITH

A CHIEF constable who is campaigning against round-the-clock drinking has applied for his police club to open 24 hours a day.

Terence Grange, 57, criticised the Government for its move to extend licensing hours.

Yet his application for his force's club requests: "Supply of alcohol (for consumption on the premises) 24 hours a day, seven days a week."

In a recent interview, Mr Grange said: "It is the police who have to deal with the problems created by heavy drinking."

And he added: "If you want a long-term fix you have to ask yourself what kind of society we've got.

"That's what government are supposed to do. But what they are doing is opening pubs for 24 hours."

Staff at the Dyfed-Powys force's Carmarthen HQ in West Wales want a longer licence for occasional late-night social functions at their club, especially over Christmas. It now opens 7pm -11pm four nights a week.

Mr Grange's application is due to go before Carmarthenshire council's licensing committee this month.

An insider said: "We were surprised to see his name on the application. Everyone knows his views on 24-hour drinking."

Mr Grange, who has an "occasional pint" at the club in the HQ's main building, was last night unavailable for comment.

Dyfed-Powys police said: "We believe there has been a clerical error.

"We only wanted to extend the licence from 10am until 2am.

"We will not be open 24 hours and the hours will not normally be extended under new legislation except for special occasions."

CAPTION(S):

CRITICISM: Grange