A LANCASTER city centre venue could lose its late night entertainments licence after police objections.

Police officers say late night crime in the Church Street area has increased dramatically since the Chicago Rock Caf received its late licence.

But the owners of the caf say most of the crimes police base their statistics on have nothing to do with them.

A report from PC Graeme Cheetham, Lancaster's licensing officer, says that disorder has increased by 46 per cent and violent crime by 25 per cent since the bar began opening until 1am in May last year.

He claims that approximately one in three of those crimes is linked to the Chicago Rock Caf.

But the owners of the caf, Luminar Leisure, have employed an independent consultant to examine the figures, and his report claims that a closer analysis of the figures indicates that they do not support a bid to remove the late licence.

A final decision will be taken by Lancaster City Council's licensing committee a week today (Thursday).