Closing-time violence in Wallingford town centre would be cut if pubs were allowed to open 24 hours a day, according to police.

The claim follows what was described as a major public order incident last Friday night when officers were called to a fight outside the Royal Standard pub, in St Mary's Street, at about 11.30pm.

Ambulance crews treated a 20-year-old man who had been knocked unconscious. When police arrived from Wallingford police station, they found a 50-strong crowd in the street and had to call for back-up from Abingdon and Didcot.

Scuffles continued through the town centre and in the Waitrose car park before another serious fight started as people queued for food at a kebab van in High Street.

Police estimate between 70 and 80 drunken youths were in the town centre. Several arrests were made for public order offences and the kebab van was asked to shut early to reduce tension. Peace was restored shortly before 1am.

Sgt Tim Debney, of Wallingford police, said new licensing laws were urgently needed to ensure that not all the town centre pubs closed simultaneously.

He said: "It's a typical problem in any town centre when all the pubs shut at once.

"We are concerned that under current licensing laws, youths tend to bulk drink towards last orders. We would welcome a change in the law and 24-hour opening of pubs, which would mean licensees have more flexibility in opening times. New closing times would solve a lot of our problems."

Bob Wyatt, the chairman of Wallingford Pubwatch, the group that decides which trouble-makers should be barred from local pubs, was not convinced changing opening times was the solution.

Mr Wyatt, landlord of the Cross Keys pub in High Street, said: "If there was an answer, I'm sure they would have found it by now."

He said the real problem was the large number of young people who stayed in Wallingford to drink on Friday nights.

Royal Standard landlord Paul Murphy backed the call for longer opening hours, saying: "There would be less trouble if young people had somewhere to go at 11pm."

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