Once upon a time a decent bouncer was judged upon his ability to look tough, act mean and dish out a good hiding wherever necessary.

After that little else was required.

“I don't think we will ever change the perception completely. But it will be good if we open peoples' eyes to the fact we are not just blokes dressed in a suit and black tie.

Tim Whiting

If a night of violence went too far and a bouncer was sacked, then no worries, there was always another door to man, another town's drinkers to bully.

But no longer. Tim Whiting, who has worked as a door supervisor in Watford for 15 years, says the “old school” image of hired muscle is no more.

Tim's business card carries the phrase: "You can't shake hands with a clenched fist." He says it is an attitude people don't naturally associate with his trade.

“Ten years ago it was about how hard you could hit somebody,” Tim says.

“You just had to be a street fighter. Now it is completely different.”

The response to the old, thuggish cartel was the Private Security Industry Act of 2001, which sought to regulate the industry and restore public confidence.

The offshoot of that, the Security Industry Authority (SIA), then introduced a set of qualifications that all door staff now have to attain.

Door staff are now rigorously police checked. They are licensed and, if struck off, cannot work legally on any nightclub's door.

Tim runs Incognito Security, a company that supplies door staff to Area nightclub, Baraka and other bars in Watford.

He says his door staff now require more training than ever before.

On Sunday afternoon, 12 of his staff finished their Level 3 Head Door Supervision qualifications. The qualification is entirely optional, is endorsed by the exam board Edexel and run by Rutherford Security.

“We've been running this now for about 12 months,” Brendan Corcoran, the training manager, said.

“The SIA has been good, but it only went so far. There is no support there, no recognition of what a door supervisor now needs in terms of team leadership.

“It is about acknowledging the fact it is a complicated role that requires dedicated programmes and a dedicated training to allow the guys to deal with the type of issues they now have to deal with.”

Those issues include dealing with medical emergencies, putting in place fire evacuation procedures, dealing with weapons and even facing the threat of terrorism.

Tim says his training helped him stop a girl from swallowing her tongue while he waited for paramedics to treat her on a recent weekend night.

However, he admits the public's perception of bouncers as violent thugs, meting out brutal beatings to pubbers and clubbers will be a hard one to shake.

Tim said: “I don't think we will ever change the perception completely.

“But it will be good if we open peoples' eyes to the fact we are not just blokes dressed in a suit and black tie.

“I think, to a lot of people, once you are a bouncer you are always a bouncer. But I just hope people can recognise the changes and training we now have.”