Newport city centre pubs and bars go glass-free at weekends

The introduction of plastic cups follows a campaign by the Safer Newport Partnership, which introduced a trial with polycarbonate glasses in 2010.

Newport city centre will go glass-free on Friday and Saturday nights, Gwent Police has confirmed.

Plastic cups will be used after 22:00 GMT in a bid to crackdown on glass crime.

It follows a campaign by the Safer Newport Partnership, which introduced a trial with polycarbonate glasses in 2010.

Glass and bottle attacks in the Gwent force area fell from 53 in 2006/07 to 16 between April and December 2011.

Licensed premises are also looking to introduce polycarbonate ashtrays in the future.

PC Rachael Honey has been working closely with licensees in Newport over the past two years to roll out the use of polycarbonate glasses across the city.

Now all licensed premises across the city have made the switch.

PC Honey said: "I am delighted that all licensed premises across Newport city centre have taken these steps to reassure both customers and staff.

"The Safer Newport partnership are working hard to ensure that visitors feel safe when out and about in Newport and this is a big step forward."

In 2010, the partnership bought £5,000 worth of polycarbonate glasses for licensed premises across the city centre.

The bar Revolution in Griffin Street, already uses toughened glass and has since seen the benefits and moved to polycarbonates.

The bar also intends to introduce polycarbonate ashtrays.

Polycarbonate glasses are currently used on Friday and Saturday evenings after 10pm and for all major sporting events.

The rate of glass attacks in Newport, there were 27 in 2006/07, 32 in 2007/08, 31 in 2008/09, 16 in 2009/10, 11 in 2010/11 and seven between April 2011 and December 2011.