The service with candles and carols normally begins between 11 and 11.30pm on Christmas Eve but Roman Catholic clergy in some areas have been advised by police to start much earlier amid fears of rowdy behaviour and violent crime.
Priests concerned for the safety of their parishioners are holding the services as early as 6pm, a survey by The Tablet, the Catholic weekly magazine, has found.
In Newcastle Upon Tyne, the Cathedral of St Mary in the heart of the city’s entertainment district, is holding its Christmas Eve Mass at 8pm because of fears of drunken louts disrupting the service.
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