LETTERS: Down with stools

Sir: Further to your report today about the attempts of police in Cheltenham to identify the causes of "pub rage" ("Officers sign up for 'drink patrol' in the line of duty," 7 October), in my extensive experience one of the prime causes of aggravation is the provision of bar stools, and their use by clients who seem determined to demonstrate territorial rights by extreme reluctance to allow others either to order or to carry drinks away. The latter operation usually requires advanced juggling skills, sometimes a little impaired later in the evening, and is invariably a stressful and difficult operation.

Licensees could eliminate all this by simply removing the stools altogether and, when that is done, to designate their former place as a drinks ordering area, free from obstruction. This would cost nothing at all. The money saved on the upkeep of the stools could then go towards the installation of the little numbered ticket dispensers used in supermarket delicatessen counters, and then we'd all be happy.

Yours,

Ron Sonnet

Southsea, Hampshire