Brighton and Hove pubs serving under-18s

Sussex Police sent a team of teenage police cadets to pubs, clubs and bars in Brighton and Hove to see whether they were checking youngsters for ID. The cadets soon discovered that many of the venues were happy to serve under-18s.

The police cadets, some only 16 years old, visited late-night cafés, bars and clubs in what is believed to be the first operation of its kind in the UK. They were served in four out of six establishments.

Police launched the operation after a series of serious incidents in the region involving under-age drinking, including cases of sexual assaults on under-age girls in two Brighton nightclubs. They had also received a report of a 15-year-old boy purchasing whisky in a late night café above a restaurant. Some nightclubs have also been caught out by social media websites, such as Facebook, which have shown photos of under-age drinkers at their venues.

Jean Irving from Sussex Police said that is it vital to ensure that bars and clubs are not serving children. Licensing laws are to protect children from potential harm, both from the physical effects of alcohol and from those who will take advantage of them.

Ms Irving said: “Our intelligence indicates there are a lot of under-18s who get in, even though these premises are supposed to be observing a Challenge 25 policy where door staff should be checking the ID of anyone who looks 25 or under.” She added: “We are finding that it’s not necessarily the big venues that we are having the problems with; it is the smaller, out-of-the-way places that we are getting reports about.”

Plain-clothed officers accompanied the police cadets. They ordered a combination of bottled beers and alcopops to test if staff requested to see their ID.

Councillor Stephanie Powell, chair of Brighton and Hove City Council licensing committee, said: “Protecting children from harm is a key licensing objective, and regular test purchase operations are an important part of our work.”

It is likely that the same problems are occurring across the country. Children are still able to obtain alcohol easily; the licensing laws are not working.