Venues for late night revellers face drink levy by councils Cash-strapped councils have closed libraries, cut arts funding and reduced bin collections as they struggle with budget cuts - but now they have late night revellers in their sights. Newcastle city council has become the first in the country to decide to impose a new late-night levy on pubs, bars and clubs that sell alcohol after midnight, to help fund the cost of policing the night-time economy and cleaning up after drinkers have staggered home. Legislation enacted last autumn gave councils the right to impose an annual levy of up to £4,400 on late night venues. Newcastle will start imposing charges from November, and a further 30 UK councils are known to be considering a levy, despite fears it could damage trade, or even up the price of a drink if costs are passed on to consumers. Some councils, including Gloucester and Northampton, have decided against imposing charges. In east London, bars in Dalston have set up a voluntary levy, with the hope of pre-empting a compulsory one, and this could soon be expanded to the digital enclave of Shoreditch. The City of London Corporation is considering a compulsory levy in the Square Mile, where the night time economy has expanded rapidly in recent years. It said it could raise £475,000 annually. In Newcastle, the council estimated the levy would raise £400,000 a year, and warned that existing schemes like street patrols and taxi marshals needed to find new sources of funding to continue. The council's move, which came at a meeting on Thursday, follows an outcry over plans to scrap all council spending on the arts and has outraged many of the city's pub and club operators who have condemned it as an "austerity tax" on a sector already under extreme competitive pressures amid dwindling profit margins. "People here are selling three trebles - nine shots - of vodka for £5.50," said Damian Conway, chairman of Newcastle's Pub Watch scheme. How tight do you think it is? Tony Brookes, owner of the local Head of Steam pub company which has four of its eight pubs in Newcastle, said he was "absolutely appalled and aghast" at the council's decision. We feel it's purely for them to grab the money towards paying for the £100m they have got to save in the next three years. National opposition to the levy, enshrined in the Police Reform and Social Responsibility Act which became law last autumn, is being led by the Association of Licensed Multiple Retailers. which champions independent bar operators. But, provided local authorities have precisely followed procedures, there is no right of appeal against a levy except via Judicial Review, a highly expensive route. "It's an additional tax on business; there's no reflection on whether you're a responsible operator," said Kate Nicholls, ALMR's strategic affairs director. However, she acknowledged that for local authorities; "It's very tempting in the current economic climate." Newcastle council said the levy, which varies according to property value, would equate to between £1 and £12 a day for premises opening after midnight. However, Mr Brookes argued that supermarkets should be forced to take some of the blame, as people now consume "ridiculously cheap alcohol" at home before going out. It's as a result of that preloading that people now generally go out later and later at night. Additional reporting by James Pickford Price rises not likely to deter young tipplers Geordies and students were working hard on a summer's night this week to uphold the city's TripAdvisor ranking as a top three European nightlife hotspot, write Chris Tighe and Duncan Robinson. Strutting and sometimes staggering - as much due to unfeasibly high heels as drink - from glitzy bar to bar on the city's so-called Diamond Strip, they paraded in a northern passeggiata, watched by burly doormen wearing police radios. The queues and crowds noticeably grew after midnight. Asked if a price rise due to the levy would deter them from late night drinking, even price-conscious locals drew the line at restraint. "We won't notice the effect," explained Jessica Denny. They know they can up the prices because we're drunk already. Chatting with friends outside Bijoux bar, Paris Kinnear, a 19-year-old dancer wearing a skimpy leotard, high heels and long, long eyelashes, observed: "Newcastle is what it is. Everyone likes to go out and drink. This predilection has helped build a vibrant night-time economy attracting about 19.2m people a year, who spend £346m and support 4,000 jobs. While Newcastle's nightlife is long established, Dalston, in London, has become the de facto night spot for its young and hip over the past five years. "Practically every single shop has turned into a bar, or hairdressing salon, or a coffee shop," says James Shepherd, a manager at the Alibi, one of the first bars aimed at hipsters to open. The people in Dalston are still the same: there are still crackheads, it's still diverse - but in the evening, it's just full of youngsters. This rapid growth has created problems, especially when it comes to relationships with locals in what was, until recently, a predominantly residential area. To combat this, and to pre-empt a mandatory levy, local bar owners set up a voluntary fee to pay for wardens to help drunk young people on to night buses. "Four or five years ago, Dalston was a no-go zone late on a night, but that has changed," says Mark Shaffer, who owns three bars, including the Alibi. The night time economy has brought different types of people, so the area has calmed down.