A police for hire scheme to crackdown on violence in the city centre has been rejected by Bradford club owners.

Chief Inspector Ray Shepherd put forward the scheme after club bosses asked for help to tackle violence and target drug dealers and illegal mini-cab drivers who work outside their premises.

Last month the Telegraph & Argus exclusively revealed that the police chief told members of the Bradford Inner City Licensees Association that they could pay for officers to patrol exclusively for them on their days off in the West End, Manor Row and Cheapside areas. A similar three-month pilot scheme in Manchester has been hailed a success by both the police and licensees.

But BICLA chairman Dean Loynes said his members had rejected the scheme on the grounds that it would cost too much for the smaller, independent operators.

He said many club and pub owners felt they attracted business into the city through the night-time economy and were already paying out enough in rates.

Mr Loynes, who runs the Boilerhouse nightclub, said: "If we pay for more patrols we are going down a dangerous road where we'll end up paying for everything.

"Now we are looking at the people who cause disorder in city centre pubs and clubs being put on a BICLA ban at the request of the police. I feel that the risk of being banned from socialising with your friends is a bigger deterrent than being arrested. But it is a matter of going back to the drawing board."

Sergeant Chris Plowman, head of Bradford South police's City Centre Projects team, said: "I have been asked by BICLA to explore a robust method of making it clear to those individuals who wish to spoil everyone else's enjoyment that they will not be welcome in the city centre.

"We can achieve this by the targeted use of Anti-Social behavioural Orders and with bail conditions that exclude that individual from the city centre while they are on bail."

He added: "It's entirely up to the licensees how we proceed from here. We will, of course, leave the door open to future suggestions."