We award stars to hotels and restaurants, so why not bars?

On the face of it, the scheme adopted by Nightsafe to grade pubs and bars in Oxford and encourage responsible drinking seems a good one.

We're not sure that drinkers, after a few glasses, will be too bothered about how many stars their chosen establishment has.

But the scheme could bring healthy competition among bar and pub owners and lead to higher standards.

Stars will be awarded based on their attitude to sensible drinking.

All licensees will automatically receive a three-star rating, as a reward for meeting the minimum standards to obtain their licences.

One or two extra stars will be given for meeting extra criteria, such as being a member of Pubwatch, using toughened glasses and if door staff wear high-visibility jackets.

Bars and pubs which achieve the top ranking of five stars will no doubt want to advertise the fact and show their customers that they are superior to their rivals.

That can only encourage lower-graded places to take action to improve their performance to match the best.

Everyone should be a winner.