No applications to scrap last orders have been received by Oxford City Council since the Government opened the doors to round-the-clock drinking.

New licensing arrangements came into force on February 7, allowing pubs and bars to ask for extensions to their hours.

But Oxford City Council, which is taking over as the city's licensing authority from magistrates' courts, has not received a single application for longer drinking times.

There are 642 licensed premises in Oxford, and under the new arrangements they must all apply for their licences to be renewed, in order to serve drinks after November, when the local authority gains control of licensing.

The city council said there had also been no applications for a renewal and urged pubs and bars to return paperwork as soon as possible, as each application is expected to take a couple of months to process.

Allowing premises to apply to open for 24 hours is designed to stamp out binge drinking by encouraging people to spread their drinking over longer periods. However, it has prompted claims it will exacerbate "yob culture".

Pc Bill Denver, Oxford police's licensing officer, said he still expected a large number of applications nearer the deadline.

He said: "The general consensus I have picked up is that most pubs will be looking to go to midnight or 12.30am on Fridays and Saturdays, and that the nightclubs will be looking at 3am at weekends."

Claire de Silva, spokesman for Luminar Leisure, which operates the Park End Club and Shout, formerly Chicago Rock, in Park End Street, said: "Luminar has not got any plans to apply for extended hours as yet. We may give venue managers the option to extend their venue's opening by an hour or two at the most."

Sally Ellson is spokesman for Mitchells and Butlers which owns several Oxford nightspots including the Goose, O'Neills, All Bar One, the Eagle and Child, the Jericho, the Bear, and Antiquity Hall. She said: "We will be starting to make applications over the next few months. The majority of our pubs might be open for one or two hours extra, on selected days. We will definitely not be open anywhere for 24 hours."

Paul Kirkley, project engineer for Oxford City Council, said the lack of early applications might be because licensees and leisure chains were waiting until closer to deadlines to apply.

Licences issued by the city council will become effective from November 7. He said application packs had been sent out to 200 licensed premises to encourage them to return documentation as soon as possible. Venues which already have a licence need to apply for it to be transferred before August 6.

Mr Kirkley said those that miss this deadline would have to make a new application, involving significantly more form-filling.

Licensees who apply after September 6 may not be granted a licence before the changeover.