THE vast majority of people who go for a night out in Colchester town centre are well behaved, respectful and law abiding.

They head out into the town centre for a meal, a few drinks or a dance and wouldn’t dream of causing any trouble or inciting any kind of violence.

And it is the silent majority Essex Police and licensees are committed to protecting .

Collating a list of names and faces of known troublemakers seems like a very good idea.

If these people are given a blanket ban from the town centre, with participating licensed premises refusing to let them in, then those people will give up trying to come out.

The truth is, nobody wants people intent on causing problems in the pubs and clubs to be there.

Not the police, whose limited resources are stretched to the limit by attending to incidents when they occur.

Not other members of the public, whose nights our are disturbed by idiots intent on violence and disorder.

And not the managers and owners of licensed premises whose reputations are damaged every time an incident occurs.

Incidents like the one which on Friday have become a lot less frequent in the last few months and years which is to the credit of everyone involved in making the town centre a nice place to visit and socialise.

But things aren’t perfect.

If any good can come from what happened, hopefully it will make all parties work together to crackdown on trouble.