黑洞社区

November 24 is D-Day, or Drink Day, for communities across England and Wales. This is the day when long-feared government moves to deregulate alcohol licensing come into force. Bar owners will be able to apply to open as late as they want, and control over licensing applications is passing from magistrates courts to local councils.

The government鈥檚 new libertarian alcohol policy may sit uneasily with its policies on high-density housing and mixed communities. Bars and housing are considered two of the essential ingredients of regeneration, but how do the two fit together at 3am? Add universities, another key element of regeneration success, with their students dedicated to the pursuit of drinking, and you could have a heady cocktail.

Ministers hope that ending the need to sup up by 11 o鈥檆lock will transform Britain鈥檚 drinkers into slowly sipping Mediterraneans. But critics argue that the British lager monster is a beast that won鈥檛 change its binge-drinking habits. They fear that deregulation will lead to a massive increase in the drink-related antisocial behaviour and disorder that already makes urban centres unattractive places to live for families. Their worries don鈥檛 stop there. The explosion of late-night drinking is hitting the suburbs too, as the Civic Trust will warn in research due to be published in the run-up to a national conference on the issue next week.

Regenerate has been to the leafy Leeds suburb of Headingley to investigate the consequences of an explosion in the area鈥檚 bar provision. Headingley is a Victorian suburb located two miles from Leeds city centre and between the campuses of the city鈥檚 two universities, Leeds and Leeds Metropolitan. Traditionally, the area has been regarded as the Hampstead of Leeds, the haunt of the city鈥檚 educated and well-heeled professional classes.

But the area has experienced a seismic demographic shift in recent years. Both universities have seen a massive increase in student numbers as the government has encouraged more and more teenagers to enter higher education. The growth in the student population has had a hugely positive impact on the economic health and vibrancy of Leeds. As one commentator recently put it: 鈥淭he wealth of Surrey has been moved up to Leeds.鈥� As a result, in Headingley the traditional mix of established residents and students has tilted towards the latter group, helping to generate much greater demand for bars and take-aways.

Within the past five years, Headingley ward councillor David Morton estimates that the capacity of the area鈥檚 bars has nearly tripled, fuelling alcohol-related antisocial behaviour. Increased student numbers have inevitably exacerbated the disruption caused by long-established features of Leeds student life 鈥� events like the 鈥淭he Otley Run鈥�, a pub crawl down the neighbourhood鈥檚 main thoroughfare.

Regenerate has spoken to some of the neighbourhood鈥檚 key players to find out whether Headingley is in the midst of regeneration or degeneration.

The developer

The evolution of Chris Ure鈥檚 company Ask Developments is a little parable of wider changes in the leisure industry. His firm鈥檚 Headingley office is next door to the Cottage Cinema, which used to be part of what was once a 20-strong family-owned chain of picture houses. After showing the final reel at the much loved but insufficiently frequented Headingley Lounge last year, Ure has closed his last cinema, freeing him up to concentrate on a more rapidly growing leisure field 鈥� bars.

In the last five years, Ure has opened three designer bars in Headingley town centre. To his opponents, Ure is the b锚te noire who has transformed the face of Headingley with his glass-fronted developments. But he is proud of his outlets: 鈥淲e run a high-quality operation and we have won national awards.鈥�

Ure argues that his opponents are not representative of broader Headingley opinion, pointing to the 10,000 to 15,000 patrons who pass through his bar restaurants every week. 鈥淲e are getting a lot of stick off a small number of people. If you talk to a lot of councillors, they would love to have an entrepreneur coming and investing millions of pounds and providing a high-quality business in their ward.鈥�

Economic benefits

Ure says he has invested 拢6-8m in the area in the last five years, transforming tatty town centre sites into stylish developments that bring people and money into the area. 鈥淭he Headingley economy benefits, as do the local traders 鈥� probably on the back of my business. In terms of regeneration, it鈥檚 been phenomenal. Headingley has now developed into a very busy urban district centre in its own right.鈥�

He says he has some sympathy for older residents: 鈥淚f you are a 70-year-old pensioner and every other house in your street is occupied by students and they party because they are 18 years old then it鈥檚 not much fun.鈥�

鈥淔amilies have been forced out, but they have done very nicely,鈥� he says, pointing to how many homeowners have cashed in on the area鈥檚 increased property values. He adds that the area has changed. 鈥淔ew people live in Headingley because they think it鈥檚 a nice leafy area; they come because they like a busy urban environment.鈥�

鈥淭here is a tendency to exaggerate what goes on in Headingley and to go on about the vomit and urinating,鈥� he says. While there are instances of antisocial behaviour, the problems are nowhere near as bad as they are in a place like Bristol.

And he insists that the Licensing Act will not fuel binge drinking. 鈥淚t鈥檚 right that people should be able to spend time in bars until early hours of the morning. There are already laws to stop people from behaving in a way that is drunk and disorderly, but they are not being enforced.鈥�

He claims catering for binge drinkers is not good business sense, citing his own moves to develop what he describes as a 鈥渓ong-term, high-quality income stream鈥�.

It鈥檚 responding to the desires of people living in the area. It makes business sense

鈥淚f you go down the cheap and cheerful route, you are appealing to the lowest common denominator which means chasing the short-term returns. There鈥檚 always a trade-off. You make a lot of money but in 10 weeks all your carpets are covered in puke and you have to do a refit. And people grow up and realise that the drink is cheap and horrible.鈥�

The student

At 3 o鈥檆lock on Wednesday afternoon, Regenerate comes across its second pub crawl of the day in Headingley town centre. Stepping across the threshold of the Headingley Taps where pints and shots are 拢1.19 all Monday night, is a group of fresh-faced undergraduates, out to celebrate a friend鈥檚 birthday. Dressed up in farmers鈥� Tweeds, they are clearly not on the first drink of the day. 鈥淵ou have to be sorry for the residents who lived here before the students,鈥� says one. Another chips in: 鈥淎t the same time that you have to be sympathetic, drinking is what you come to university for, isn鈥檛 it?鈥�

Erin McFeeley offers a more sober defence of Headingley鈥檚 student population, the rapid recent growth of which underlies the mounting concern about alcohol-related disorder in the area. 鈥淚n Headingley, we are talking about a small area where there鈥檚 a high demand for the services that are there,鈥� says the Leeds University Students Union communications officer.

鈥淚f there are problems, a lot of it is media hype, it鈥檚 not the worst place for it,鈥� she says, adding that she finds Headingley town centre a lively place to go out at the weekend. She argues that incidents of bad behaviour are isolated and points to the absence of figures to show whether there is a problem in the neighbourhood.

The student union itself does not offer cut-price drinks promotions and advises its members not to drink excessively. But she does not believe that there should be a clamp-down on Headingley鈥檚 bars. 鈥淚t鈥檚 a business and it鈥檚 responding to the desires of people living in the area. It makes business sense.鈥�

The right to live as you choose

The two universities bring revenue and investment to the city, she points out, helping to underpin its recent boom. And she points to the extensive voluntary work done by the two universities. Equally, she argues that it is wrong for the council to clamp down on the conversion of family properties into homes in multiple occupation.

鈥淲e feel that it鈥檚 right that students have the right to live wherever they want to live.鈥�

The resident

Lesley Jeffries鈥檚 cv doesn鈥檛 match that of a curtain-twitching killjoy. The middle-aged teacher is a member of the Green Party and was very active in the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament during the 1980s. She even enjoys a pint, picking out Yorkshire brewer Masham鈥檚 Black Sheep Bitter as her favourite tipple.

But the secretary of the Headingley Network of residents groups is angry about the way proliferating bars have ruined the quality of life in the area which she has lived in for 25 years.

During the evening, she says, urinating and vomiting in the street and even in front gardens has become commonplace in Headingley. 鈥淎t just 7 o鈥檆lock tonight I saw a young man urinating in the street and his friend taking a picture of it on his mobile phone.鈥� A side street that links the two main concentrations of bars has become known locally as 鈥淰omit Alley鈥�. The street is the location of the local primary school, where staff often have to clean up vomit from the playground. On the same streets, she says, cars are often bashed and their windows smashed by drunken youngsters. And the streets are often caked with litter from the local take-aways in the morning. 鈥淚t鈥檚 a constant battle and it wears you down,鈥� she says. Jeffries acknowledges that the area鈥檚 drinking problems are part of a wider shift that has seen families displaced for students and local shops replaced by take-aways.

鈥楳y partner would move tomorrow, but I鈥檓 very committed to Headingley,鈥� she says, 鈥業鈥檓 not going to be pushed out!鈥�

Headaches in Headingley

So far, she says, the introduction of the Licensing Act has not resulted in the flood of late-night licence extensions that many feared. But then, many of the area鈥檚 bars already open late in Headingley, exploiting loopholes that allow premises to stay open if they offer dancing or food.

the only staggering here will be people going from one pub to anotheR

Lesley Jeffries

However, she says, all of the area鈥檚 bars have had to reapply for their licences to comply with the act, meaning more work for her network.

One of the 鈥渂ig flaws鈥� of the act is that bar owners can appeal against refusal of their applications to the magistrates who, she says, have often taken a liberal line on the issue.

And she has short shrift for the government鈥檚 argument that staggered closing times will reduce rowdiness. 鈥淚f they are staggering here, it will just be people staggering from one pub to another,鈥� she says. The same low-level noise problems caused by people talking on the way home from the pub will be pushed into the early morning.

She says the explosion of bars has resulted from the council鈥檚 drive to turn Leeds into a 24-hour city. 鈥淵ou don鈥檛 want it to be all the time, everywhere 鈥� 24-hour living should be somewhere you go to rather than the place you are living in.鈥�

The councillor

When he became ward councillor for Headingley, David Morton says 1200 people could drink in the area at any one time. Five years later, that figure has soared to 3200, becoming his number one headache in the process. 鈥淚 didn鈥檛 come into politics to campaign against alcohol,鈥� says the Liberal Democrat representative, 鈥渂ut it鈥檚 the main issue.鈥�

鈥淚n terms of general footfall it causes a lot of disruption,鈥� he says, giving as an example the group of around 25 clearly inebriated youngsters that he has just seen spill out of a local pub in the early evening, holding up traffic.

He argues that local councils, like Leeds, have few powers to thwart bar applications. Resisting planning applications for bars is hard because Planning Policy Statement 6 explicitly encourages investment in town centres 鈥� and Leeds council classes Headingley as such. And once a planning consent has been granted, it is difficult to veto the accompanying licensing application.

Also, while the new Licensing Act transfers licensing powers from magistrates courts to local councils, he complains that the government鈥檚 guidance prevents ward representatives from objecting to licensing applications unless specifically asked to do so by a constituent.

The costs of drunkenness 鈥� who pays?

He acknowledges that bar developments have brought capital investment into Headingley, but says they have also saddled the council with extra clean-up costs. 鈥淵ou could argue that the local authority ends up cross-subsidising bar operators,鈥� he says.

It鈥檚 not just the council that is stretched as a result of the extra demand for services. He argues that the police turn a blind eye to the low-level, alcohol-related antisocial behaviour that takes place in Headingley. 鈥淭he police would say it鈥檚 a quiet sector, people aren鈥檛 getting glassed. The biggest problem is mobile phone theft.鈥�

In a big city like Leeds, the police have more pressing problems to worry about. 鈥淚f you arrest 10 people at night, you are taking up a quarter of the city鈥檚 cell space,鈥� he says.

And while bars bring investment to the neighbourhood, they are undermining its social fabric. He pins a large share of the blame for the closure of the local primary school on drink-related problems. 鈥淧arents have told me that they are not prepared to walk through vomit and broken glass and that they don鈥檛 want to take their children through that kind of thing,鈥� he says. The area鈥檚 demographic shift becomes 鈥渁 self-fulfilling prophecy鈥� as established residents leave and young people take their places.

Many working-class communities complain that they are being pushed out as a result of gentrification resulting from regeneration. But it is rare for a predominantly middle-class community, like Headingley, to make the same complaint. But this is what鈥檚 happening, argues Morton. He fears that using drinking to regenerate the area鈥檚 public realm is creating an unsustainable community and wiping out its traditional character. 鈥淚t鈥檚 not regeneration,鈥� he says, 鈥渋t鈥檚 obliteration.鈥�