There are good bits as well as bad to late-night revelry

The boisterous, at times anti-social, drinking culture has been blamed for everything from violent behaviour and binge-drinking to crime rates and hospital admissions. It has also been given as the main reason why some older Islanders don’t feel safe at night in St Helier, and has had the finger pointed at it for Jersey’s high drinking levels.

But now, after a delegation from St Helier’s Madeiran twin town of Funchal came face to face with drunken revellers and were reportedly shocked at what they saw, it is threatening our reputation oversees.

So, does Jersey have a problem with its late-night drinking culture? Well, yes and no.

Yes, because St Helier Constable Simon Crowcroft is right when he says that some tourists will be put off by the noise and lairy behaviour in St Helier on Friday and Saturday nights.

Yes, because far too often Monday’s Magistrate’s Court list is dominated by people accused of anti-social crimes, more often than not fuelled by alcohol, over the weekend while in town, and because anyone who has ever stood in the taxi queue at the Weighbridge at 2 o’clock on a Sunday morning will know that it isn’t always a nice place to be.

But it isn’t all bad. Many holidaymakers will appreciate that there are things to do in St Helier at night, and perhaps may even be attracted by them. When town at the weekend is going well (usually on a summer’s evening, when everyone is happy and relaxed), it is a vibrant, interesting and enjoyable place to be.

And St Helier’s nightlife is nothing compared with many other places around the UK. Take Newcastle, for example. You have probably seen the pictures of scantily clad young women without coats who have passed out in the snow, and you may have watched the TV programme Geordie Shore.

And believe me, the newspapers and cameras aren’t exaggerating. I’ve been there, and the person who told me on my first day at journalism college to wear high heels on a Monday morning to avoid the piles of sick in the town centre wasn’t, I repeatedly found out, joking.

So the gist of it is that Jersey’s nightlife isn’t going to win any awards at either end of the spectrum. It isn’t the worst (not that this is something to be proud of, I should point out), but it also isn’t the best. It has its good bits and it has its bad bits.

And with Pure nightclub the latest late-night establishment to close its doors, it is not as if we have the greatest night scene in the world. I should also point out that, importantly, it isn’t always young people who are to blame for the not-so-good bits, either.

With all that in mind, the idea that we need a ‘crackdown’ is a risky one. It could stifle what good bits there are, put people off town altogether and make traders suffer if it is done too harshly.

But that does not mean that some things can’t be done to improve on the bad bits.

The Street Pastors, who are often seen around St Helier late at night offering help, occasional first aid and a friendly face to revellers, are a great example. They provide some much-needed sense among the chaos, particularly at chucking-out time, and simple things like the bottles of water they provide for people who are t5he worse for wear make a big difference.

The taxi marshals, too, have made a big difference. However, there are other things that should be considered. Mr Crowcroft, for example, might be right when he says that bars and clubs should turn their music levels down. He says that the loud music makes people shout all night, and then they leave the bar or club where they have been partying and continue to shout because they have been used to it all night.

The idea sounds a bit daft at first, but if you think about it, he is correct. And at the risk of sounding like a killjoy old beyond my years, the music is more often than not far too loud – to the extent that you can’t speak to the people you have chosen to spend your evening with anyway. I’ll bet that no one would even notice if you turned the volume down.

Then there is the question of late-night licences – by which I mean places staying open past 2 am. The UK introduced later opening hours a few years ago, and anyone who has lived in the UK or even visited will soon get used to being able to stay out way past Jersey’s closing time.

Now whereas on the one hand allowing some clubs to stay open later would lengthen the impact on town and perhaps any hotels or homes in the area, there would also be some benefits. These include staggering closing times to cut down on the carnage that is 2 am when thousands of revellers are chucked out on to the street, many of them drunk, and left to get on with whatever it is they are doing next, be that going home, finding a party or having a fight.

Allowing some venues to be open later would reduce this impact and would stagger the number of people congregating around the Weighbridge, for example, and the taxi queue that is a particular focal point for the chaos.

Later openings would also give some of the more excitable revellers somewhere to focus their energies past 2 am, rather than causing problems on the street.

And a change of closing times could even help reduce the need for people to drink copious amounts of alcohol quite as quickly as they do now.

There are always going to be problems when you get large groups of people together and alcohol is involved. Some people are always going to feel intimidated by large groups of boisterous revellers, however young or old they might be. And, unfortunately, there is always going to be a need for a police presence in town on Friday and Saturday nights and Bank Holidays.

But let’s remember that there are good bits, too, including the fact that we don’t have to wear high heels on a Monday just to avoid the effects of the weekend still lingering on the pavement.