DOOR staff had the chance to tell the city’s mayor what nightlife  is like for them.

The Lord Mayor, Cllr John Winterbottom, and three other councillors — Hilda Sterry, Ben Noble and Chris Gale  —  were invited by doorman Jim Myers to tour the city with him to find out more about what the job of doorman entails.

Mr Myers, 43, is the chairman of the Exeter Door Supervisors and Door Staff Association and has worked in the industry for 22 years.

Mr Myers said although it was quieter than normal on Friday night due to bad weather, it was still a useful exercise.

He said: “The idea was to help the councillors find out what the city’s door staff are up against.

“With the bad weather though, it was quite quiet and we didn’t see any trouble.

“But it was useful for them to hear from door staff across the city.

“People’s attitude changes when they are out drinking, especially so in the last 10 years.

“The mayor said he had not seen that side of it before and had not met any doormen before.

“He said he enjoyed speaking to the door staff and said he would like to come out again when the students are back, as they make up around 25 per cent of the night-time population, I would say.”

The Shadow Security employee said while Exeter wasn’t as troublesome at night as Liverpool and Plymouth, where he has also worked as a doorman, it did have “its fair share”.

Cllr Winterbottom said: “It was really a fact-finding exercise.

“Jim approached me in the first instance and I said I was happy to go out and then I think he approached the other councillors.

“They wanted to get a selection of us to witness the situation in the city at night.

“From my point of view, I like to go out and see anything connected with Exeter.

“In September I am going to go to the cathedral and join their night watch team.

“I want to experience as much as I can in my year in office as mayor.”

He added: “One thing that did surprise me was the number of people in Exeter involved in door staff work.”

Cllr Winterbottom said he was going to a meeting of the Exeter Door Supervisors and Door Staff Association tomorrow Note: Tues Aug 4 to find out more about the work they do and speak to the members about his experience of going out on the street with the other councillors.