WHERE'S the Millennium party spirit?

That's the question being posed by puzzled officials.

They were expecting a rush of applications for late-night opening hours as pubs, hotels and restaurants geared up for New Year's Eve parties.

But - with just weeks to go - the deluge has failed to appear.

"It is most odd," said Vale Royal Borough Council's David Uden.

"We had expected a great deal of applications for extended hours and parties over the millennium."

Mr Uden sent out a letter in June inviting pubs thinking of holding millennium events to contact him.

But he has only had two responses.

Very few parish councils and community groups have asked for borough council funding for millennium events - and Northwich Memorial Hall hasn't been booked for December 31.

The council isn't abandoning hope, though: Mr Uden is still offering his services to any groups wishing to organise last minute events.

Some councillors blame the lack of response on 'millennium apathy' - and on the expected hike in prices.

Clr Kevin Mannion, who is on the licensing committee, said: "Perhaps people are wise to being ripped off, or have realised that this new year is not the millennium, but the start of the last year of the 20th century."

Converted for the new archive on 13 March 2001. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.