After chatting to a few people last night on my neighborhood patrol, drinking alcohol on the high street in public will be banned from the 30 july how do street lifers feel about this?
I can't say I'm too bothered about people drinking in the high street but what does bother me ate the groups of men that gather to drink and socialise in the residential side roads. Not only can they be quite intimidating but also, more often than not they leave behind their pile of empty cans and vodka bottles.
Wandsworth Council (via the Met Police) will be introducing a borough-wide enforcement of not drinking in public places - we were told about that at the recent Ward Panel meeting which neighbourhood watch coordinators and others attended. I can't remember the exact date, but its in the next few weeks.
One of the problems that has often been raised at these meetings in drinking in residential streets, church yards and even cemeteries (!) and these will all be areas where the new rules can be enforced, so if you are bothered by this problem, report it to your local SNT or call 101. It's also to be able to police the anti-social behaviour that results from people drinking to excess (violence, vomiting etc.) from what I understand.
I don't like the idea of banning street drinking at all. I remember when Boris made a great fuss about banning alcohol on the tube and everyone looked at each other and asked if, in real terms, there had ever been a problem to do with drinking on the tube. But Boris wanted to ban something to stamp his mark on things.
I have lived in Tooting for 35 years and I have never seen any problem to do with street drinking and I wonder what has led to this latest piece of restriction on our civil liberties. Did people complain or did the penpushers at the local Council feel it was time to flex their muscles again and hedge us all round with another thing we are not allowed to do on our own streets?
btw I notice I am outside the restricted area, so I will be able to stand at Tooting Bec corner with my can of Special Brew and mock all you cider/meths street-drinking rowdies being loaded into the Black Maria....
Once again it is the odd few drinkers who ruin it for others, i really don't think this will be easy to police, and there are enough alley ways around tooting that will be used for having a sneaky can and piss. Check the alley opposite superdrug should be called tin can alley.
Thats good for you Caroline, but we do have a problem on Mitcham Road nr Amen Corner and around residential streets of Tooting Graveney, therefore at least three of us NHW coordinators have compained to council/local police. This action has come about due to pressure from local residents, as was the action to ban drinking on the tube (an increasing number of disturbances/ anti social behaviour due to drunk people). Personally, and, I do drink alcohol, I dont see the need for anyone to imbibe while out and about. My friends and I have been frightened/threatened by beligerant drunks on the high street and welcome this ruling. My neighbours are fed up with disposing of others bottles and cans thown into our gardens.
Can you honestly say its going to effect Joe Public? I have never seen anyone one of my neighbors stand on the street and
drink a can of lager or bottle of wine its ridiculous to moan on like
its going to effect you personally.
All it will hopefully do is deter the
groups of drunks who gather outside HSBC by the cash points
intimidating people, stop the drunks that sit outside sainsbury's and in residential streets who
people cross the road to avoid, how can it be a bad thing?
(You just had me worried Tracey when you said borough-wide - I had an instant urge to start drinking in the nearest public park! :) )
This earlier council press release quotes a councillor as saying "This would not be a drinking ban on members of the public who are engaged in peaceful and harmless behaviour and who are not causing disturbance or annoyance to others"
although it also says
"officers have the authority to stop people drinking in a public place and if necessary confiscate any alcohol in their possession. Anyone who fails to comply would be guilty of an offence and could face an on-the spot fine or prosecution in the magistrates court."
so I'll leave it to the good people of Tooting to take their chances with that one :)
Rik. so the problem is a small group that hangs around the HSBC and Sainsbury's? The council's own statement says it is only a 'relatively small group' of people who are the problem. So, in order to counter this small group, we have a new law prohibiting anyone from being found with a drink in their hand on our own streets.
Do we order a general curfew to counter occasional street muggings? No we don't. We try to deal with the people who are causing the problem. The situation is the same here.
Caroline, since you live outside the controlled area you aren't going to mind when in a few weeks the street drinkers start meeting round your road knowing nothing can happen to them? Seriously, in the residential streets around tooting broadway they are a pain.
Caroline W no its not just a small group of people I used that as an example I work in Sainsbury's we have gangs congregate in the car park drinking getting drunk then fighting, intimidating customers and people who cut through, people out the front of the store, people outside the tube, groups of men on residential streets drinking.
People all along Mitcham Lane and Amen corner street drinking is rife in Broadways neck of the woods and I think it will be a good thing.
I cant see the police stopping someone who is walking home drinking a can of lager, or people outside of pubs having a cigarette its a trial to give the police proper power to get large groups of rowdy intimidating and sometimes scary drunks of the street so its a safer place for everyone,
I for one when I finish at 11pm would be glad to walk home without having to keep an eye on whats going on around me and have to cross the road to avoid them.
I agree with mungomuffit, why this impellent need to drink as soon as one ends work is mystifiying. There are scores of people who end the day going home to relax and do not buy themselves a can of beer as soon as they leave the office/work premises.
Surely it isn't too much to ask men (no women involved I've noticed), to wait till they're at home or in a bar to drink. If women who work as hard or more, there are women who are manual workers, can control themselves, why can't men do so?
Once again a few of you seem to have missed the point i am making, my partner does not regularly open a can as soon as he gets off the bus, but if he felt like doing it that, choice has now been taken away from him because of other fools who can't handle their booze and cause problems on the high street. Some people who work like dogs in the heat do fancy a can before they get home whats the big problem with that?
We haven't missed the point Leanne, we just don't agree with you. It's not ok to walk about in public swigging a can of beer/bottle of vodka etc. It puts me (for one) on edge when I see someone with a beer in hand walking toward me. As a mother bringing up children in SW London, I also hate the example it sets for children. Wait until you get home or drop into the pub on your way home.
I don't necessarily want a law against it. It's just down to common sense and decency that you don't do it.
I used to work like a dog too (not manual labour, but very mentally tiring 12+ hr days in the City). I love a drink like the best of them, but not while on on the tube or walking down the street.
Comments
Sorry Leanne, only joking.
One of the problems that has often been raised at these meetings in drinking in residential streets, church yards and even cemeteries (!) and these will all be areas where the new rules can be enforced, so if you are bothered by this problem, report it to your local SNT or call 101.
It's also to be able to police the anti-social behaviour that results from people drinking to excess (violence, vomiting etc.) from what I understand.
I have lived in Tooting for 35 years and I have never seen any problem to do with street drinking and I wonder what has led to this latest piece of restriction on our civil liberties. Did people complain or did the penpushers at the local Council feel it was time to flex their muscles again and hedge us all round with another thing we are not allowed to do on our own streets?
Can you honestly say its going to effect Joe Public? I have never seen anyone one of my neighbors stand on the street and drink a can of lager or bottle of wine its ridiculous to moan on like its going to effect you personally.
All it will hopefully do is deter the groups of drunks who gather outside HSBC by the cash points intimidating people, stop the drunks that sit outside sainsbury's and in residential streets who people cross the road to avoid, how can it be a bad thing?
This earlier council press release quotes a councillor as saying "This would not be a drinking ban on members of the public who are engaged in peaceful and harmless behaviour and who are not causing disturbance or annoyance to others"
although it also says
"officers have the authority to stop people drinking in a public place and if necessary confiscate any alcohol in their possession. Anyone who fails to comply would be guilty of an offence and could face an on-the spot fine or prosecution in the magistrates court."
so I'll leave it to the good people of Tooting to take their chances with that one :)
Do we order a general curfew to counter occasional street muggings? No we don't. We try to deal with the people who are causing the problem. The situation is the same here.
People all along Mitcham Lane and Amen corner street drinking is rife in Broadways neck of the woods and I think it will be a good thing.
I cant see the police stopping someone who is walking home drinking a can of lager, or people outside of pubs having a cigarette its a trial to give the police proper power to get large groups of rowdy intimidating and sometimes scary drunks of the street so its a safer place for everyone,
I for one when I finish at 11pm would be glad to walk home without having to keep an eye on whats going on around me and have to cross the road to avoid them.
Surely it isn't too much to ask men (no women involved I've noticed), to wait till they're at home or in a bar to drink. If women who work as hard or more, there are women who are manual workers, can control themselves, why can't men do so?
I don't necessarily want a law against it. It's just down to common sense and decency that you don't do it.
I used to work like a dog too (not manual labour, but very mentally tiring 12+ hr days in the City). I love a drink like the best of them, but not while on on the tube or walking down the street.
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