GATES have been put up at the entrance to a busy town centre street in a bid to reduce weekend violence.

The stretch of road on Yarm Lane, Stockton, between Prince Regent Street and the High Street, will be prohibited to traffic between 10pm and 3am every Friday and Saturday.

The gates will also be in use on Sundays when followed by a Bank Holiday.

Police said the area was plagued by anti-social behaviour and over the past year there had been 545 incidents.

It is hoped the gates will reduce problems which often occur when people coming out of nightclubs scramble for taxis.

Superintendent Dave Pickard, operations manager for Stockton police, said: "This area alone is a hot-spot for bad behaviour. It is not just violence, it is anti-social behaviour in general.

"Often the catalyst is people fighting over taxis and so, by taking that away, we hope to reduce the problems."

As well as the gates, the area will be closely supervised by police and monitored by town centre closed circuit television cameras.

However, a number of local businesses oppose the experimental order, which lasts for 18 months, and will be reviewed after a year.

Mohammad Zaroof, from Alpha Cars, said: "Can't they see that by closing the road they are just going to create more problems as it gives people a bigger area to fight.

"It is not getting taxis that is causing the problem, it is the amount of alcohol people have consumed that makes them fight with each other.

"Perhaps instead of looking at closing the road, the council should reconsider the number of premises it grants late licences to.

"We are generally opposed to this and are now just waiting to see how it affects us and where we go from here."

The gates will be open and closed by wardens and emergency vehicles will still be able to get through an entrance at the Prince Regent Street junction.