Trendy pubs and clubs are being granted late licences like bus tickets, say protesters who claim drinking is leading to a surge of crime and noise.

They said nobody was willing to face the impact crime and noise was having on their lives when Brighton and Hove pubs and clubs closed in the early hours.

The comments came after The Toad at the Picture House pub, in the old ABC cinema, in East Street, was granted a licence to open until 1.30am Monday to Saturday and 12.30am on Sunday.

Brighton and Hove magistrates agreed to the late licence after police dropped an earlier objection.

A recent survey said drink-related disorder in the city was unacceptably high and crime where alcohol was a factor had increased by more than 50 per cent in the last three years.

Seafront resident Trevor Skoble said: "This has now opened the floodgates for any of the pubs to go for it. They are issuing late licences like bus tickets.

"It is another 600 persons out on the road late at night and we, as residents, are concerned about noise, disturbance and everything connected with that.

"We now have a crime audit that clearly states that most, if not all, of the crime in these areas occurs at closing time."

A crime and disorder audit, which councils now have to produce, said police estimated they had attended some 2,000 incidents of drunkenness in 2000/01.

The report said drink-related assaults were highest in the city centre and seafront areas and the largest peak was when pubs and clubs closed.

The chairman of the Sussex Licensed Victuallers' Association, Colin Millham, said post-midnight closing could only add to noise and drink-related crime.

He said: "I don't think these late-night licences are good things. It seems there is one law for some and one law for another group. Do the people of Brighton really want this? I don't think they do."

Toad at the Picture House manager Ronan McCann said late licences meant pubs did not empty at the same time.

He said: "I think the reason why the police have not objected is so there are staggered hours in place so you do not have hundreds of people staggering out at the same time."

A city council spokesman said the beachfront was the best place for late licences.

He said: "We have to strike a difficult balance between the right of people to enjoy licensed premises when they choose and the effects of a tiny minority who cannot behave when they have had a drink."