Fatboy's good for our tills

But businessmen and women in Brighton and Hove were not exactly laughing all the way to the bank.

The weekend's extra takings came at a price -

in extra security, theft, damage and the pile of mess left behind by revellers.

Off-licences sold out of beer, restaurants ran out of food and packed hotels had to put bouncers on the door.

Before the event, revellers desperate for food and drink formed queues stretching for miles.

By the end of the evening it was a free-for-all with tired, hungry and impatient revellers laying siege to bars, restaurants, takeaways and any form of transport going.

The Dorset Bar in North Road recorded record takings and ran out of food on Sunday lunchtime.

General manager Mark Stollar said: "We made money but everyone was horrible - demanding and rude and effing and blinding.

"Most of them were not from round here and were arrogant and said Here's the money, where's my food?' They were the most revolting customers we have had.

"Last year it was very quiet and we closed early. This time we were five times busier than we had anticipated but no one wanted to accept it was a crisis situation."

Staff at Bella Pasta in Market Street said the weekend was "insanely busy".

Floor manager Stuart Reed said: "It was just crazy - good for business but not for the environment.

The mess afterwards was just horrendous.

I was almost in tears.

"From my point of view, I live here, this is my city and I hope it won't happen again. If it does, it should be just for Brightonians."

The Tin Drum in Dyke Road was extremely busy on Sunday and had to stop serving at 3.30pm.

Some restaurants were forced to close early after being overrun by people needing a toilet.

Emilio Savvides, manager of the Regency in King's Road, said: "We had hundreds and hundreds of people trying to get in to use the toilet on Saturday.

"It was chaotic. We had to put a couple of guards on the door to cope.

"We also lost some of our regular customers because they simply couldn't get through the crowds to get to the restaurant. Overall it was a good weekend for us but the litter was a shock.

"We would welcome the event again but in a much more controlled way."

Dig in the Ribs in Preston Street was busy all day Saturday with peak demand after the concert finished.

General manager Sam Guillemard said: "The biggest difference was in the type and attitude of the clientele. Half of them were drunk and horrible and we did not want them in our restaurant.

"From a business point of view, I don't mind if it happens again but on a personal level, I hope it never does.

"I have children and the state the city and the beach were in afterwards was quite scary."

Sobs takeaway in Dyke Road was besieged by revellers wanting a late-night snack.

Owner Gayed Salip said at one point there were 60 people squashed in his shop and another 400 queuing outside.

He said: "Everyone wanted food at once -

burgers, pizzas and kebabs. I had six staff and we worked until 2am."

The Prodigal in East Street had to close at 8.30pm after revellers made off with all their glasses.

General manager Rob Chivers said: "We had got in lots of plastic glasses but when they ran out we asked people not to take the glass ones outside.

"It was difficult to stop them as one of our bouncers could not get in to work because of the traffic chaos.

"In the end they were using us as an offlicence.

We must have lost at least 300 glasses, which I am now having to borrow and replace."

The Cricketers in Black Lion Street was busy from 4pm and had to turn large groups away.

Assistant manager Raphael Esposito said:

"The biggest problem we had was big groups of people ordering 12 bottles of Budweiser and then wanting to take them on to the beach.

"Our security staff stopped them."

Oddbins in Western Road was cleaned out of alcohol by Saturday night.

Sonia Karpozis, duty manager at Safeway in St James's Street, could not keep up with demand.

She said: "We sold our entire stock of beer and alcopops by 7pm.

"We also sold much more snack food than normal. Like everyone, we weren't anticipating that kind of demand.

"There was no trouble and we'd have no problem with another Fatboy event but it needs to be organised better."

Hoteliers were among the few people expecting a bumper weekend.

Guests booked rooms months in advance of the event.

Giles Paul, owner of the Belgrave Hotel and chairman of the Brighton Major Hotels Group, said: "On any July weekend, especially when the weather is good, demand exceeds supply.

"But for this weekend we filled up a lot earlier.

We could have sold those rooms two or three times over.

"This event didn't give us any extra business but it has again put Brighton on the map."

Like many other hotels, Mr Paul had to employ door staff to prevent non-residents from coming into the hotel to buy drinks, use the toilets and possibly disrupt a wedding party taking place.

"We are in favour of cultural events but if it happens again we need to perhaps think about siting it somewhere safer."

Small businesses benefited from the passing trade.

Queues formed outside Bharat's newsagents in East Street as people waited to buy cigarettes, drinks and snacks.

By the end of the evening, taxi drivers were being offered £100 to take fares all over Sussex and beyond.

Although some Radio Cabs drivers did well picking up unexpected and long-distance fares, others could not get through the crowds to their regular customers.

Tony Turner, co-director, said: "People were desperate to get home and were prepared to pay anything.

"We already had problems with two lanes of the seafront being closed so it was manic. A few got a bit stroppy but no more than any Saturday night."

Tony Breslin, chairman of Hove Streamline, said his drivers were inundated with requests to get them back to London on Sunday morning.

"The event has undoubtedly brought a tremendous amount of money to the town but if it happens again it has to be organised properly and that probably means taking it off the seafront."