Council warns Glastonbury it may limit amount of alcohol revellers can take into site to cut 'nuisance' in local area

[Pinhead]

Agreed - such a shame the variety and identity is erroded in this way. Tbh I expect that if they tighten the screws on what you bring in it will mainly hit those peeps who bring in stacked wheelbarrows of beers (which MDC observers on the gates are no doubt all to aware of). Individuals might receive less attention and could probably do a couple of runs to their car for example without attracting too much attention.

[MaxPower]

35 minutes ago, eFestivals said:

I'm no expert on it either, but my take is that any bar licencing fee that might exist would be of too-minimal a level for anyone to care about it in that way.

 

Correct.

[Suprefan]

Ill carry in your extra alcohol for a price. The benefits of not drinking has its upsides at times! 

[Madyaker]

How would it work for all the people who stay off site and in campervans etc?

[Ayrshire Chris]

43 minutes ago, Madyaker said:

How would it work for all the people who stay off site and in campervans etc?

Last year there was a steady stream of folk heading to the Worthy View car park every day, a very short walk, to resupply. Also means less weight to carry in when first entering the campsite.

In the last few years we’ve taken less and less cans in, I just prefer to drink in the bars but realise that for many the cost of that is too prohibitive and for that reason would hate to see stricter limits imposed. As for the underage drinking, I’ve never really seen that as a serious issue compared to other events and festivals I’ve been at. It is however an easy option\target for the authorities to use as an excuse. 

[Madyaker]

I would agree. At electric picnic festival in ireland you can't attend if you're anywhere from 13 to 17 years old and guess what? There's way more drunk teenagers at that festival than there is at glasto.

[MaxPower]

7 minutes ago, Madyaker said:

I would agree. At electric picnic festival in ireland you can't attend if you're anywhere from 13 to 17 years old and guess what? There's way more drunk teenagers at that festival than there is at glasto.

Teenage binge drinking is a bigger thing in Ireland than in the UK.

Source: was a Teenager in Ireland.

[parsonjack]

I'm more outraged that the Daily Fail has managed to get 4 pages of debate out of us.

Desist now please.

[Bisque]

I might be oblivious but the only underage drinking I’ve seen has been at Reading, Leeds, Wilderness & Ripley bonfire. That was only in the campsites though.

I even got a over 18 wristband at Reading one year & was still asked for I.D. at the bars (I sat on my drivers licence the year before & bent it) when I was in my twenties.

Bars at all fests tend to be right on I.D. checks.

I know from chatting to GlastoWorker & working events how serious it is.

My parents have always been relatively liberal with alcohol when I was younger so they made sure I was never a total wreck but still had fun.

I can understand underage drinking being an issue though, too much in one go & nightmares. I’d be more worried about how ketamine is now the “cool” drug to take at fests with younger goers.

[Bisque]

I’m too lazy to go offsite to buy alcohol. I save a little pot so I don’t have to worry about money.

Same when I go on holiday. Worrying about money takes fun out of your day.

[Madyaker]

5 minutes ago, Bisque said:

I’m too lazy to go offsite to buy alcohol. I save a little pot so I don’t have to worry about money.

Same when I go on holiday. Worrying about money takes fun out of your day.

I don't do it to save money. In 2019 I brought barely any cans and bought pints the whole time and it was a pain in the arse. Queuing for a pint in a crappy paper cup thats annoying to walk around with because it spills. If your in the pit at the pyramid or other stage no more drinks for you. Bag of cans on my back or in my pockets is way better. Tbh I think if they try and limit the cans it'll be counter productive. People will just smuggle in spirits in their bags instead and end up way more fucked from nailing vodka and rum all week.

[Earth_pig]

I don't agree with any alcohol limit but people should show consideration if they are using the coaches with limited storage.

Seen people taking ridiculous amounts of stuff piled high with crates. 

Bring spirits less room and less piss breaks haha

[Cooter]

Exactly, if people want to get drunk they will, putting limits on won't make a difference whatsoever. As for underage kids getting drunk has anyone managed to stop this ever anywhere?

It's a money spinner like all the other festivals and/or some control freaks on the local council.

[Bisque]

9 minutes ago, Madyaker said:

I don't do it to save money. In 2019 I brought barely any cans and bought pints the whole time and it was a pain in the arse. Queuing for a pint in a crappy paper cup thats annoying to walk around with because it spills.

A tactic I use is to keep your old cardboard cups & add them to your current cup, makes it much sturdier.

& I hate this, you can have a quick wee in an old cup if there are no toilets asap, then obviously dispose of such waste accordingly in a loo. It does mean you walk around with a cup of warm wee but this is mostly for being caught short at camp & DESPERATE e.g. no Comfort or Lucozade bottle near by.

2 minutes ago, Earth_pig said:

I don't agree with any alcohol limit but people should show consideration if they are using the coaches with limited storage.

Seen people taking ridiculous amounts of stuff piled high with crates.

I have witnessed this the one time I took a coach. Everyone was thinking wtf that is too much to put underneath the coach. Turns out they were an extremely nice bunch of people & shared a lot of their OTT stash with people on the coach.

I get your point though when people are turning up with trolleys full of booze but if it’s between groups I guess it equals out (ish).

[Keithy]

Surely if you can still go back to your car over the 5 days then unless they have a draconian limit on each entry, in the worst case scenario you'd just have to go back to the car each morning and stock up?

Obvs that stuffs coach travellers.

However if you can take in sealed bottles of water then it's a piece of piss to take in a 2 litre sealed bottle of sparkling 'water' that contains gin or vodka. 

Equally sealed bottles of Lipton Iced Tea for JD or Rum.

Short of getting you to empty your bag, unpack tent, etc, it's really hard to stop spirits. 

[semmtexx]

3 hours ago, Bisque said:

I’m too lazy to go offsite to buy alcohol. I save a little pot so I don’t have to worry about money.

Hold on! I didn't read this! You're allowed pot instead of booze? How much are we allowed in?

Excellent development! 😝

Edited January 15, 2020 by semmtexx

[MrZigster]

And so, the consensus seems to be that this is a "Controlling Under-age Drinking" thing then?

As a four time bar volunteer I can assure people that every bar person is (hopefully) absolutely petrified of serving someone under-age. Along with: Not doing "Challenge 25", serving clearly inebriated people, not writing down every Challenge 25/not serving clearly inebriated people on the list of challenges that the licensing rules require every bar to keep, accidentally forgetting to to do any of the above in the heat of the moment and it's an undercover council worker they're serving, not remembering the name of the main licensee and the bar licensee if a council worker does declare themselves and asks you for said names, etc...

Any kind of personal fuck up along those lines and it's an: Out on your ear immediately. Make your own way home. That's your volunteering spot forever gone ultimatum. They make this quite clear in the training (which they reinforce every year).

Do gate checkers get the same level of "Don't fuck this up or you're out", training?

I remember Brothers Bar being asked (told?) to stop selling/refilling 2L bottles 'cause of passed out teenagers in The (then) Jazz Field concerns. Has this stopped passed out teenagers there? (It may have reduced them) 

Like others here I'm old enough to remember regularly drinking in pubs since about 14 years of age. We were with older kids who looked eighteen, our mates brothers/old school mates were eighteen and worked behind said bars and, generally, publicans just didn't seem to really give a shit in those days. No challenge 25. Nobody at all was expected to be able to immediately produce ID.  It was just an, "Are you eighteen?", "Yes!", "What can I get you". type exchange.

I grew up friends with a family who always had wine at dinner on special occasions. From toddlers up we were introduced to alcohol via a splash diluted with tons of lemonade.

Much to my current me shame, I joined The Young Conservatives as soon as I could. Long story as to why (said older friends...), but the point is: They knew fully well how old I was (14) and were quite prepared to sell me cheap members rate booze in the club bar. Likewise, at 16 I had an apprenticeship that required me to spend 3 months away residentially with a few dozen other 16 year olds. The local bars loved us (when we were let out). They knew how old we were. That was 1985.

I honestly think they may have been more enlightened times. Better to have kids who want to booze in a bar. With adults that can keep an eye on them, rather than have them buy a bottle of White Lighting from the offy and sit in the park and get blitzed and vulnerable?

(And that, maybe, is why Glastonbury is different and should be given some sway. We still keep an eye on people and help each other out of the mud).

I obviously don't have any answers. Just observations. Merely my tuppence worth (or £2 given inflation).

Maybe my point is that, as others have said more succinctly, rules get finickier year on year.  Jobsworths' jobs depend on them being jobsworths. Continual Improvement and all that business mantra bollocks.

I do wonder if it's easier for a 17 year old to score hard drugs than it is for them to buy alcohol these days. Not being 17 I wouldn't have a clue. It'd be easier to smuggle 24 drugs in than a crate of lager. No?

As for the recommendations,  I'm surprised there's not more outcry about the cross contamination point. Back to that "four time bar volunteer" thing, the very limited supply of hot water to properly scrub up at the end of a shift seriously rang health and safety alarms in me. But what are you going to do? There are dozens of bars. All spaced out over what is a plumbing and electricity desert. And the food stalls way outnumber the bars. And they must have way more stuff to wash up, not just a few jugs...

 

[Yoghurt on a Stick]

1 hour ago, MrZigster said:

 

Like others here I'm old enough to remember regularly drinking in pubs since about 14 years of age. We were with older kids who looked eighteen, our mates brothers/old school mates were eighteen and worked behind said bars and, generally, publicans just didn't seem to really give a shit in those days. No challenge 25. Nobody at all was expected to be able to immediately produce ID.  It was just an, "Are you eighteen?", "Yes!", "What can I get you". type exchange.

 

We used to get served in pubs in our school uniform at lunch times. It wasn't just selected pubs either, it was all of them in that area. 

[kalifire]

9 hours ago, Earth_pig said:

Bring spirits less room and less piss breaks haha

That’s what I ended up doing last year. It was too hot to drink during the day so by the time evening came around, casually sipping on Mallets wasn’t going to cut it. I ended up filling my Glasto steel jug with vodka and buying coke at the bar, then topping it up. This did the trick nicely. 

[squirrelarmy]

1 hour ago, Yoghurt on a Stick said:

We used to get served in pubs in our school uniform at lunch times. It wasn't just selected pubs either, it was all of them in that area. 

There was a pub near my old college ironically called The Boy and Barrel. They knew we were all underage but we college kids represented a large proportion of their income so they let us get away with it. The 90s was a different time. 

[Tommy101]

For those talking about warm beers in cans; if you can put them under the ground sheet of your tent.The ground and moisture in it keeps them surprisingly cool for days, even during nice weather.

[Yoghurt on a Stick]

1 hour ago, squirrelarmy said:

There was a pub near my old college ironically called The Boy and Barrel. They knew we were all underage but we college kids represented a large proportion of their income so they let us get away with it. The 90s was a different time. 

Yeah, I'm going back to the 80's. That was a different time too. It's amazing to think we got served in our school uniform, when I look back on it now.

[Crazyfool01]

I’m amazed at the fake ID I actually got away with ... I didn’t start drinking untill the age of 17 but I’ve always looked fairly youthful so there was no way I looked anything like that ... I think I had a youth hostel association fake ID for a while 

[giantkatestacks]

Yes, at a festival it is far easier for kids to buy drugs than alcohol. That was my main worry for my son going to Reading tbh. I think the honest answer is that there are a lot less teenagers at Glastonbury because of the dates and the fact that you have to pay full price for over 12s. This must lead to loads of kids being present and far less teenagers. Most other festivals have a tier in between that makes it more cost effective.

[Sawdusty surfer]

6 hours ago, MrZigster said:

 

I do wonder if it's easier for a 17 year old to score hard drugs than it is for them to buy alcohol these days. 

 

Based at what I have witnessed at Glastonbury I would say absolutely.