THE company seeking a late-night drinks licence at York's Barbican Centre is at the centre of a binge-drinking storm at its nightclub in Newcastle.

Police have sought to close Absolute Leisure's floating nightclub, the Tuxedo Princess, on Gateshead Quayside, because of high levels of drink-fuelled disorder.

Their concerns centred on a special drinks promotion under which customers could pay £10 and then drink as much as they wanted. Two drunken young men died after falling in the icy River Tyne.

Officers originally applied to revoke the company's drinks licence, but withdrew the application this week after Absolute Leisure agreed with licensing magistrates to stop any promotion which encourages binge drinking. It said it had already voluntarily dropped the drink-as-much-as-you-want promotion weeks earlier.

But York protesters today seized on the controversy to strengthen their campaign against the company's application for a licence to sell drinks until 2am at the Barbican - due to be considered by York magistrates next week.

Local residents and members of the Save Our Barbican (SOB) campaign plan to raise concerns about late-night noise and drunkenness from Barbican users in what they say is a residential area.

SOB spokesman Ernie Dickinson claimed today that the licence being sought would allow Absolute Leisure to mount similar drinks promotions to the controversial ones at the Tuxedo Princess.

"What has happened there also calls into question the judgement of officers who advised the council that the Absolute Leisure deal was a good deal for the residents of York," he said.

He said council leader Steve Galloway had spoken approvingly last November of Absolute Leisure's track record, but claimed people could now see the company's real track record, instead of the "hype". He urged residents concerned about the late-night licence application to go to court next Tuesday.

But Tony Knox, managing director of Absolute Leisure, today dismissed any parallels between the Tuxedo Princess nightclub and the Barbican, and denied there would be any such drinks promotions in York.

He said Absolute Leisure had voluntarily agreed to certain conditions with police ahead of the licensing application for the Barbican. "These conditions were agreed upon a year ago," he said.

"The company's liquor policy is tailored to each venue and the Barbican is not the sort of venue that we would be running any of these special offers at.

"One of the agreed proposed conditions is that discounting or promotions on alcoholic products will not encourage binge drinking or include practices such as happy hours.

"Absolute Leisure is a responsible operator and has no problem at all agreeing to these conditions."

Updated: 10:07 Friday, April 08, 2005