Street drinking has caused issues in the area for many years. Lambeth, in partnership with Station to Station, is piloting a ‘Reducing the Strength’ campaign in West Norwood and Tulse Hill to restrict the sale of low price, high strength alcohol in the BID area. This is to address the long-standing issues of anti-social behaviour associated with street drinking reported by businesses and residents.
This is a voluntary campaign and is aimed at bringing together a partnership of off-licenses, local residents, community groups and the council to address both the causes and impacts of street drinking locally.
How does it work?
Lambeth will work with off-licences to voluntarily remove low price, high strength alcohol from the shelves, and to provide outreach and support services to street drinkers in West Norwood and Tulse Hill.
Step 1: The council’s licensing team will visit off-licences to outline the benefits of voluntarily withdrawing low price, high strength alcoholic beverages, such as super-strength beer and cider, and small bottles of spirits from sale. Several other councils have put these campaigns in place and the licensees have seen significant benefits to their shops and businesses.
Step 2: The council will work with the BID, businesses and residents to identify the most problematic areas for street drinking and provide intensive support and enforcement in these areas to free up local places (such as St Luke’s gardens) from associated anti-social behaviour.
Step 3: The council will continue to work with voluntary and residents’ groups to provide ongoing support to street drinkers and keep local areas free of anti-social behaviour long-term.
Where has this worked?
The first of these ‘Reduce the Strength’ campaigns was in Ipswich and resulted in big reductions of anti-social behaviour and street drinking taking place in the affected areas.
https://www.ipswich.gov.uk/content/reducing-strength-campaign-shortlisted-top-award
A more recent one operated around Caledonian and Holloway Roads in Islington showed significant improvements in the incidence of street drinking and anti-social behaviour, as well as off-licences reporting an improvement in business as a result of voluntarily participating in the campaign.
Why is this taking place?
The council have had residents and business organisations reporting negative impacts on businesses and residents from street drinking and the attendant anti-social behaviour in the West Norwood and Tulse Hill area.
Where can I get more information?
To find out more about the campaign please contact the Lambeth Licensing Team on:
Email:Â licensing@lambeth.gov.uk
Telephone:Â 020 7926 6108