I've recently read that there's proposals for an Early Morning Alcohol Restriction Order (EMRO) in Northampton. Basically, they think there's too many drunks in Bridge Street at the weekend and want to ban the sale of alcohol in clubs and pubs between midnight and 6am.
While there's people probably reading this thinking that I should be the last person to be concerned given that I'm a geek who LOVES to study and have no fun (drawing conclusions from past experience), this is actually something that pisses me off. That's no surprise given that everything pisses me off, but yeah, this does too.
While I openly admit to not being a typical student (something I regret now that my uni days are almost over with and I feel my youth slipping away already by deciding it's time to grow up) I still enjoy a night out with copious amounts of alcohol - what student doesn't? I get where they're coming from in that there are A LOT of drunks in Northampton town centre at the weekend getting violent and puking, pissing and sometimes shitting in the gutter, but not everyone does that. I hold my hands up and say that just over a year ago I wasted the time of the emergency services due to what I still put down to a drink spiking and I feel terrible for that, but I didn't cause any trouble. I didn't batter someone in the street or piss in the gutter and I certainly won't be drinking like that again.
I honestly think that banning booze between 12am and 6am is going to do more harm than good - and I'm not saying that because I'm a student, I genuinely think it's true. First of all, how many clubs will go out of business? It's no lie that clubs get most of their profits from booze - no one's going to want to go on a night out and drink coke all evening, while not everyone goes out to get shit-faced, alcohol is still part of the fun.
They're also trying to make Northampton more appealing for students - but what potential student is going to go to a university where there's a ban on booze after midnight? And the saying it'll restrict alcohol consumption is the biggest load of crap I've ever heard. No it won't, people in Northampton normally don't go out till 10 anyway - who's going to go out for 2 hours? People will just start going out earlier and two things will happen. 1. People will drink quicker, which is more dangerous than pacing yourself - again potentially resulting in ambulances being called and what not; and 2. People will get the same amount of wasted and will start causing fights and shit, but just a couple of hours earlier than normal.
How about instead of a minority of chavvy assholes spending their benefits on Jagerbombs and oranged faced TOWIE wannabes getting so hammered they just don't care where they piss ruining it for the rest of us the police just get tougher on them? Don't punish the majority of students who go out to let their hair down at the end of the week and stay sensible, when you know it's the same sort of people who cause the trouble every week. Not everyone goes out to get wasted, but it's fun to have a drink and get a little tipsy - just not so much that you end up spending the night in a cell or in A&E. Instead of putting a curfew on the clubs, put one on the people. If they're caught fighting or throwing up on the pavement or whatever, put a curfew on them and if they're out after a certain time of night next time, arrest the fuckers.
I really hope this ban doesn't get put into effect but I can see it happening. In which case, I can't see many people becoming students here. And what's next? Refusing to serve people in McDonald's because they're too fat? If they're going to put this heap of restrictive, fun ruining scrotum sack into effect, at least do it for a trial period rather than a permanent one, because I can guarantee that it will not make Northampton safer. If anything, people going out and getting drunk, and then being told they've nowhere to go or that they can't have another drink is just going to spike more trouble. Just leave things as they are.
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