Midnight lock-outs, restrictions on shots and energy drinks and a multi-venue barring policy are all soon to be put in place in licensed venues across Coffs Harbour.

The Coffs Harbour Liquor Accord, which includes the city’s largest pubs and clubs, has agreed to implement those measures and more from late February.

It is in response to rising public concern about alcohol fuelled violence within the region.

The new policies will come into effect in late February.

Liquor Accord Chairman John Rafferty said midnight lock-outs will come into place but changes to closing times are not being considered.

“You’ve got to be mindful of allowing each operator to operate their own premises and try to make sure that they can operate their own premises properly,” he said.

“Because you could have a premises that’s operating till 3 o’clock in the morning and they have no problems.”

“Why should they be locked into a policy that stops them trading past 1 o’clock when they don’t have any issues?”

Mr Rafferty said venues alone cannot solve the problem of drunken violence.

“People keep blaming alcohol, but there’s a whole range of issues and we have to get past that it’s just alcohol,” he said.

“There’s a lot of drug use, people tend to go out later, they’re consuming alcohol long before they even get to the premise, and the premises are getting blamed a lot of the time when it’s actually not their fault a lot of the time.”