Bridlington publican on a mission to tackle possible drink spiking by offering a new layer of security to his customers

Rob Forster, of The Apollo on Prince Street and The Stirling Castle on Queen Street, will be giving his customers the opportunity to use StopTopps lids – and is hoping to have the scheme up and running by this weekend.

StopTopps are anti drink spiking lids that fit snugly over glass rims.

The covers are made from small sheets of aluminium foil, through which people can insert a straw for easy drinking.

The foil lids have food and hygiene approved glue on the underside so they stick securely on the top of any drinking vessel.

Drink spiking has been on the increase over the past five years across the UK and Mr Forster decided to implement the lids option to put people’s minds at rest.

Mr Forster said: “We are hoping to get the lids in time for the weekend.

“Understandably they are in demand at the moment due to incidents in Nottingham and other major cities.

“We already use the bottle Spikeys and have been looking at some plastic lids, but they cost £1 each which would have been unaffordable for everyone.

“As it happens, when I saw a Facebook post about StopTopps, the lids looked like something that we could use, and that’s what we’ve done.

“They will be available this weekend hopefully. We have had an email from the company saying the demand is ‘unprecedented’ so the roll out might be delayed.

“The spiking issue is more relevant at the moment for customers of the Apollo and Stirling Castle who have read about incidents in the papers.

“We will also be operating an ID scanner at the Apollo shortly, which is a £10,000 investment, to try and cut out these problems which are putting people off from going out.

“We are doing the right thing for our customers and hopefully our actions will put their minds at ease.”