BOURNEMOUTH’S town centre becomes a “pigsty” after the resort’s pubs and clubs close their doors to late-night revellers.

That’s the view of a senior town centre councillor, while a former council leader has warned that “people are not proud of Bournemouth any more”.

Councillors want the power to charge pubs and clubs towards the costs of cleaning up and policing, as well as to impose earlier closing and a fixed last admission time.

Council cabinet member David Smith told a public meeting: “You’d be appalled if you saw Bournemouth every morning; we have to go out and pick up the litter left behind by the night-time economy.”

Fellow Central ward councillor and former council leader Stephen MacLoughlin warned that the town’s image and reputation was on the line.

“It’s gone; people are not proud of Bournemouth anymore,” he said.

“The licensing trade also depends on the image and reputation of Bournemouth being good; we do need better regulation and also to work with the trade to get the right balance.”

The comments came at a meeting of town centre residents at St Augustin’s Church Hall at Cemetery Junction, where residents complained about litter strewn across the town, inadequate street cleaning services and lack of litter bins.

Cllr Smith said: “I believe in targeting people and punishing them by giving them tickets if they drop litter. We try to do a lot with very limited resources; people should take their litter home.”

Quizzed about the council’s policy on 24-hour drinking, the town centre ward councillor said: “We are not in a position yet where we can make changes; the government is still in the process of formulating their new policies.”

He added: “I believe that the polluters should pay; the drinks industry causes the problem and they should be made to contribute a lot more towards the policing and cleaning of our town.

“There should be a last entry time to pubs and clubs; say one o’clock, and an earlier closing time. Drinkers who cause all the problems and end up in hospital should pay higher fines to foot the bill.”

Head of town centre policing Inspector Dean O’Connor said late-night levy charges would mean that premises wishing to stay open later would have to pay more for the privilege.

He added: “We take every opportunity we can to prevent new premises being opened. There are going to be some changes around Christmas; to make it possible for local councils to dictate how they want their towns to look.”

Jon Shipp, the town’s night-time economy co-ordinator, said: “I do appreciate that there’s a level of rubbish out there but it has to be attributed to the right places and that would include take-aways, the people that drop cigarettes and other rubbish, and sometimes daytime businesses as well.”

He stressed pubs and clubs were already more tightly regulated than most businesses. “Supermarkets have licences to sell alcohol but they don’t have any control over people that drink their alcohol,” he said.