Inverness officials will consider extending hours in the city’s entertainment precinct to give city-centre visitors more leeway to bring alcohol outside, from business to business.
Currently, the city uses its entertainment districts to complement downtown activities. At these events, when customers want to be able to take their beverages out or to other businesses, the city distributes beer or wine to local businesses selling alcohol-unique plastic cups.
Get more from the Citrus County Chronicle
City manager Eric Williams will propose an extension of the program rather than closing it down after city events in the inner city. He will ask council members at a routine public meeting on Tuesday to discuss whether he can automatically participate in the entertainment district each week. He will recommend that the recreation area be open from Thursday to Sunday, and city staff can watch to see if it creates problems.
The city launched the scheme about a year ago and is watching to see if it would encourage public poisoning during the Inverness incident. Williams said it didn’t.
From the outset, the city’s downtown businesses recognized the importance of customers not abusing the program and being openly intoxicated or misbehaving, Williams said.
Williams said people came to Inverness city centre to entertain, socialise, shop, dine with friends and family and enjoy drinks. But he said drinking is usually not the main attraction.
Williams said the plan from when the entertainment precinct was originally created in Inverness was to see if it would fit the city, and if so, expand it to improve the city centre and visitors.
Inverness Mayor Bob Plaisted said using the entertainment precinct had proven to be “remarkably effective” in attracting people to the city centre and enhancing city activity.
“It does a great job,” he said.
When it was first launched, he and others were watching in the downtown area, just in case, but “there was a lot of noise”, and the downtown viewing group disbanded after the first entertainment area activity.
Plaisted said he would support expanding hours in entertainment districts.
“If we have any problems, we can take it away,” he said.
Council will meet on Tuesday 1 November at 5:30pm at the Valerie Theatre, 207 Court Square, Inverness, due to early voting in the Inverness City Council Chamber.
