Preston Police have come up with a rather strange idea. It runs something like this; vertical drinking, that is drinking stood up, is one of the main causes of public disorder. And so the cops in the Lancashire town want it banned in the local pubs. The Lancashire force maintain that standing with a like-minded group while drinking is a major contributor to drunken violence.

The local NHS Primary Care Trust has backed the police's wacky idea of having a "no standing" rule imposed on all Preston pubs by the autumn. Under the rules of the scheme customers will only be served at the bar if they already have a seat.

As a former barman I can state quite clearly that this concept is going to be a greater cause of violence than vertical drinking if the police insist on it being enforced by bar staff, who have a rough enough time of it already. Just think of the number of seats in your local compared to the number of customers on a Friday night. If this rule was forced on punters pubs would become ghostly quiet and liable to fail financially within weeks.

What does the Preston police force expert landlords to do, fit row after row of cinema style seating or something. It's the most hare-brained nonsense I've heard in a long time. In most pubs in busy times there are many more standing customers than those seating, could any local economy survive without these people.

Personally I prefer a pint sat down. But I do often take a sip or three before returning to my table, will this be outlawed too?