Too much hype blamed as revellers stay nearer home

EAST Lancashire welcomed the new millennium with a trouble-free night of celebrations - but many pubs and clubs were left feeling flat as revellers enjoyed the party of a lifetime closer to home.

Police, fire and ambulance officers who spent months planning for the biggest party ever said the night passed off peacefully and said their pleas for people to only ring 999 in an emergency had been heeded.

But Margo Grimshaw, flamboyant owner of Blackburn club Never Never Land and four pubs, said she had made no money on New Year's Eve and believes many other venues may have lost money or barely recouped costs.

Her club's doormen were paid triple time plus a £100 bonus and other staff were also given rises, but the venue was only as busy as an ordinary Friday night.

Many pubs closed for the night or staged private parties for staff and friends and Mrs Grimshaw blamed hype about high prices and pub staff demanding exorbitant wages for the let-down.

Spectacular fireworks displays lit up the millennium night sky over Burnley centre and heralded the arrival of the 21st century with a bang.

The colourful fireworks displays that marked midnight for thousands of revellers in Burnley were echoed across Pendle and Rossendale.

In Burnley the fireworks proved too much for one police horse which was "spooked" and set off at pace down the street with its rider fighting to stay in the saddle. Fortunately the officer did and the horse was brought under control with no-one hurt. Burnley centre was very quiet and other town centres in the area were similarly subdued with many pubs simply not bothering to open their doors.

And in Nelson it was a case of "the lights are on but nobody's home". The pedestrianised town centre was lit with decorative lights but apart from a party at the Lord Nelson there was little activity.

About 500 attended Club 53 in Burnley centre where tickets were £10, among the cheapest in the area.

General manager Phil Caine said: "I understand some other local clubs took a bit of a hiding with attendances well down on a normal weekend.

"My policy from the outset was to refuse to rip anyone off. We charged normal weekend prices for drinks and arranged a 30 per cent reduction in fares with Kings Taxis. For us it was like a great Saturday night. For others it was less successful with people being frightened out of the town centre by licensed premises and taxis pitching their prices too high." Sergeant Tony Longton, of Burnley police, said: "It was quieter than normal. You usually get large groups of people milling from pub to pub from early in the evening but it was difficult to find any large numbers of people."

In Burnley there were 17 arrests most of them drink-related offences including public disorder, criminal damage and threatening behaviour.

The Lancashire Police operations room at Hutton received 310 emergency calls between midnight and 6am - compared with 78 last year.

Staff and management at Burnley General Hospital enjoyed a quieter New Year than expected and even the accident and emergency department was no busier than on a normal bank holiday weekend. .

Between midnight and 6am, 525 emergency calls were made to the ambulance service across the county - an increase of 25 per cent on 1999.

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