A shift away from traditional night-life to venues offering all-day drinking including bottomless brunches risks creating a Magaluf-like atmosphere in York, local hospitality business owners have claimed.
Publicans and other business owners consulted on new licensing policies claimed the trends were leading to excessive drunkenness at weekends, threatening York’s and its hospitality venues’ otherwise good reputation.
One Blossom Street publican said better management and control of revellers’ behaviour was needed while another premises licence holder said day-drinking was detracting from York’s cultural and historical appeal.
City of York Council stated in a report it was aware of day trippers coming to the city’s pubs and bars and was working with venues to tackle issues including antisocial behaviour.
It comes as antisocial behaviour increased by 15.6 per cent in the last year within York city centre’s alcohol restriction zone, the council’s draft Licensing Policy Statement for 2025-30 showed.
Councillors are set to decide whether to adopt the statement, which sets out the council’s approach to licensing and the hospitality industry in the city, later this month.
The statement aims to support hospitality businesses including with offering customers greater choice, promote culture including live music, dancing and theatres and encourage a greater variety of high-quality venues.
It also aims to encourage family-friendly premises, protect people’s health from alcohol-related issues and tackle alcohol-related crime, disorder and disturbances.
Alcohol problem
The document stated York had seen a rise in pubs and bars offering activities such as bottomless brunches, which offer unlimited drinks and food for a set amount of time.
Other trends in the last five years include venue staff walking around with shots and offering them to customers as well as QR codes to scan for table service.
The document stated this had led to people consuming large quantities of alcohol and the council and police had had to speak to venues following drink-related incidents.
It also stated a rise in ‘pre-loading’ or ‘pre-drinking’, where people drink on their way to York before going out, had also fuelled an increase in anti-social behaviour.
The trends meant alcohol-related harm was a particular concern in York, where drinking-related hospital admissions of 809 per 100,000 were higher than the English average of 612 in 2023-4.
North Yorkshire Police figures have also shown that more than half of violent crimes recorded in York city centre in 2023-4 were linked to alcohol.
Visiting to get drunk
One premises licence holder who responded to the council’s consultation said recent trends had seen a shift towards all-day party-bars offering bottomless brunches music and showing sports.
The licencee of 50 years said: “While such venues may be popular in city centres, they often bring with them a brash and loud atmosphere that detracts from the historic and cultural appeal of York’s city centre.
“I sincerely hope York does not invite this kind of ‘all-day party bar’ culture, offering breakfast through to last orders at 2am, resembling destinations like Magaluf.
“York’s charm lies in its historic appeal, unique character, and vibrant but balanced nightlife.”
The Blossom Street publican who responded said alcohol-related health and safety issues needed to be better tackled.
They said: “Lots of tourists on a weekend particularly are not visiting York for its history, they’re visiting to get drunk.
“This within itself is not a problem and it keeps out licensed venues ticking over, but it’s poorly managed.
“We have seen an increasing numbers of under age people producing fake IDs, these IDs are often very good and can catch staff out.
“We have a thriving student population and a reputation in the city of good pubs and licensed premises, but I fear if this situation isn’t better-controlled we will lose this and I hope it will not take a very bad incident for the council to wake up and deal with this.”
Code of conduct
The council stated in response to the consultation submissions that its policies encouraged venues to promote customer safety and to work with them and the police to tackle problems.
It added it also shared best practice with other councils and police forces which see large numbers of visitors to improve the way issues are handled.
The council stated: “We are aware that York is a popular city for day trippers and weekend visitors, due to our excellent rail links, who come to the city to visit the pubs and bars which can create an increase in antisocial behaviour.
“We have worked with partners and the licence trade to tackle the issues associated with these, such as introducing a Code of Conduct.”
Other council initiatives include those linked with York’s Purple Flag status, including an advertising campaign encouraging visitors to behave responsibly when out in the city centre.