AN ALL-night cafe is what Cowley Road, Oxford, needs, according to a councillor for the area.

Discussions are on-going about whether to introduce CCTV cameras to the road and limit the number of new bars which can open.

But Nuala Young, who is chairman of Oxford City Council's east area committee, believes an all-night cafe would have a major, positive impact on the road.

She said: "I would love to see a place where people can have all-night breakfasts. That is what we need, it would be great for people.

"It would stagger when people go back to their homes and it would also give people a place to meet where they don't have to buy expensive alcohol and get drunk.

"When I was a student I would have loved to go to a place like that."

Mrs Young also had ideas about where such a cafe could go - in the former Regal bingo hall at the corner of Cowley Road and Magdalen Road, or at the East Oxford Community Centre.

She said the bingo hall would be a good location for the cafe as it had recently been granted a licence for late-night entertainment. The community centre, in Princes Street, could be suitable because it has recently had new kitchens installed.

Mrs Young added: "I have talked to police about it and the Nightsafe people and they thought it was a good idea if the right people were found to run it.

"I think it is purely a lack of imagination as to why we do not have one yet - or perhaps the profit lies in alcohol sales and that is why so much is being pushed.

"There are quite a few cultures in the East Oxford area that do not drink alcohol and for them there is nothing to do on the Cowley Road."

She said there was at least one empty restaurant/cafe premises on Cowley Road, which could be a possible venue.

And she appealed to anyone who might be interested in running such a place to approach her or the council with their ideas.

Supt Brendan O'Dowda, Oxford city police chief, said: "I would be 100 per cent behind something like that.

"It is in line with many of the cool-down areas that some other cities and towns have and, provided it is alcohol-free, I think it would be a good idea."