THE CLUB trade has questioned the legality of a pioneering court ruling forcing an Ulverston nightspot to have bouncers on the streets, reports Jennie Dennett.

In what is thought to be a UK first, Furness magistrates told Buffers nightclub its staff must help move-on groups of drunken club-goers from outside homes.

The ruling followed a two-day hearing in which residents from around the Station Approach club complained of rowdy club-goers swearing, urinating, defecating and even having sex in their gardens.

"At present the ordinary people in the area are picking up the negative costs," said magistrate Jacqui Barnfield. "It's unfair for any profit making business to defer its costs to the public. Given the location we find Buffers has a duty of care to all its near neighbours."

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