Mr Gurr, the former owner of The Bridge Tavern, was one of about 25 AHA members to attend yesterday’s branch meeting at the Kooringal Hotel.

Attended by new AHA NSW president Scott Leach and CEO Sally Fielke, publicans discussed a variety of topics, including local issues such as the Liquor Accord and Wagga Safe Committee.

“The local hotel community is very concerned about the street violence and we believe through a controlled environment, by keeping people in the hotels, is far better than them drinking in the parks,” Mr Gurr said.

“We’re concerned about the alcohol content with these alcopops.

“We’re supportive of pulling back the alcohol content and the things in them that really spike the effect of alcohol on people so they don't get to the stage where they’re aggressive and argumentative.”

Mr Gurr said AHA NSW was taking positive steps towards making Wagga a safer place by participating in the new Wagga Safe Committee through local member Greg Williams from the Astor Hotel.

“As a community working together we can address a lot of the problems Kerry Pascoe feels we have on the streets,” he said.

“We feel the late night food outlets are entitled to trade but, like us, if they’re trading late you need to offer safety and we think CCTV in the main street is paramount and we’re very happy to share our CCTV footage with the police.

“We’ve seen it work successfully in other committees and we feel it’s probably the way to go.”

Mr Gurr said clearing the streets after pubs closed was an effective way of reducing crime but he is convinced resurrecting the nightrider bus system was the best option.

“We know transport is a big problem but we feel it’s hard to set up a bus route that accommodates all people,” he said.

“We’d like to consider PM taxi plates, where you could bring on additional cars at night to move people on.”