Old Town bars - 'The policy is having it's desired effect'

Of course it does not help when so many of those who do get involved get it so hopelessly wrong.

The often ludicrous efforts of the city council to intervene in recent years could be used to compile a "how not to . . " book on the subject.

Banning bar staff from asking "same again?", limiting the number of "vertical drinkers" (council-speak for those standing around the bar), forcing all pubs to have an equal number of male and female toilets . . . The list of wrong-headed attempts in the Capital to tackle the problems caused by loutish drinkers seems endless.

So, when our city leaders hit on the right approach, it is worth persevering with.

And the idea of capping the number of licensed premises in certain areas of the city has generally proved successful in recent years.

The evidence of the need for action was clear to anyone who wandered into the "war zone" that the area around the Cowgate and Grassmarket had become late at night before the cap was introduced in 2002.

Yes, the policy has been misapplied on occasion, notably when the sedate Hotel du Vin was bizzarely refused a licence in the name of cracking down on antisocial behaviour.

But broadly speaking there is general agreement that it has helped keep a lid on the worst excesses of the "stag and hen" culture which has taken off in Edinburgh and other tourist cities.

Times are undoubtedly tough for pub landlords - the worst, it has been said, since Victorian times - and they deserve an even break. It is also reasonable of them to ask the city council to monitor changes in the area and back up its case with facts and figures.

But we should not lose sight of the fact that a relatively low number of police and ambulance incidents there can only be seen as evidence that the policy is having its desired effect.

It is hard to see how any study could possibly justify opening the door to an unlimited number of new drinking venues in this sometimes too lively part of the Old Town.