TOWN centre bars, pubs and venues have clubbed together to show Barnsley is a safe place to enjoy a night out - with a host of new measures coming into force.

Spurred on by the national conversation around safety, and particularly women’s safety, following the murder of 33-year-old Sarah Everard, venue owners signed up to Barnsley’s Pubwatch scheme are doing everything they can to protect patrons.

Adam Pumford, from Funny Gals, told the Chronicle: “We’ve done this of our own accord to make Barnsley a safer place.

“People are understandably concerned for their safety.

“On social media, you tend to see more negative than positive, so we’re trying to change that and provide that reassurance to people.”

Venues have all signed up to the ‘Ask for Angela’ scheme which sees members of staff take people who feel threatened to a safe place when they use that phrase.

CCTV and radios will mean venues can advise each other to refuse entry when someone has been kicked out of one place, with footage available to police, and frequent random searches will take place on entry to stamp out drug use.

Bottle and pint covers will be available behind bars.

Police and street marshals will also provide a more visible presence around the town centre.

“It’s time people coming into the town centre and the night-time economy have that safe space and don’t need to be concerned,” said Adam.

“We are different to a city, we’re a town, which means we all work together.

“I don’t know any other town that’s done something like this.”