[News] Kids Know Nothing #6129: not drinking

[BBassic]

Very much this.

We didn't take the piss, just a few mates playing cards and having a coupe of beers. The landlord(s) clearly knew who was and wasn't 18. Was always amusing when one of the group had their 18th Birthdays. I remember the landlord buying me a drink!

The cost has to be a factor too - it's bloody expensive to go out and have a skinful on an 18 year old's wage.

It's expensive to go out and have a skinful on a 33 year old's wage as well.

 

[happypig]

I started going to pubs aged 15/16 in the late 1970's. At first just to see gigs at the Alhambra, Buccaneer and a couple of other places (Sham69 at the New Regent was "lively") but later we used to use pubs as somewhere to go and socialise. On my 17th birthday I asked the landlord of (I think) the Black Horse for a whisky and was told to stop taking the piss and have a beer.
My son is now 21 and almost never drinks; it's not that he doesn't like it or can't afford it, he just can't be bothered and will happily drink diet coke when he goes out with his pals. I'm rather glad of that as I don't want him to turn out a ruined, borderline alcoholic like his parents.

 

[Giraffe]

The modern way seem to be everybody meeting at somebodies house and drinking, then go out around 10pm and head for a Weatherspoon's for cheap drinks and then head for a club where they need don't buy drinks which are much more expensive

Exactly this. "Pre's". I struggled to get my head round at first when my son was doing this, and saying they weren't going out out until 10-11pm, but when you consider it's a fiver a pint, and they also do a lot of shots now it's very expensive for a night out.

 

[jasetheace]

Varndean VI Form 2nd 11. We were playing BHASVIC one Wednesday afternoon and all of us went to the Brewery Tap en route.

Dave Smith went bananas afterwards saying he could smell the booze all over the pitch.

We won 3-1 by the way.

 

[the right footed denilson]

Don't know the stats on drug taking but as a pub manager can confirm younguns are seemingly drinking less but definitely not shy about many other drugs.

 

[SUIYHP]

I know a few students who don’t drink, more often than not it’s because they simply don’t like alcohol or getting drunk. People can talk about money and stricter regulations but personally think that younger people don’t like the other effects, especially as there is more encouragement to be open about mental health nowadays.

 

[blue-shifted]

It's a good thing that the young are turning their backs on booze. It will improve public health and pressure on public services in the long term.

However, if this trend continues, the face of our towns will change. Can Brighton support the sheer number of pubs that it currently does? Probably not. It's bad news for brewers, kebab house etc.

 

[turienzo's lovechild]

I was probably part of the last generation who could get away with underage drinking in pubs. I noticed a huge clampdown when I was 18 and I was getting ID’d everywhere I went (the same places that didn’t bother when I was 16 or 17). We knew the score when we were underage- don’t take the piss and keep quiet about it and no one cared. We learnt a lot- how to behave in public around other adults, how much we could drink without utterly disgracing ourselves etc. Which I think the generation of “getting smashed round someone’s house” simply don’t get until they’re 18 by which point they’re probably bell ends


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[ManOfSussex]

Very much this.

We didn't take the piss, just a few mates playing cards and having a coupe of beers. The landlord(s) clearly knew who was and wasn't 18. Was always amusing when one of the group had their 18th Birthdays. I remember the landlord buying me a drink!

The cost has to be a factor too - it's bloody expensive to go out and have a skinful on an 18 year old's wage.

I remember my 18th birthday. It was a Monday night in the 1990's, but fortunately due to Sky Sports creating the joys of modern football it coincided with Liverpool v Arsenal in The Premier League so it went under the radar.

 

[Bakero]

Don't know the stats on drug taking but as a pub manager can confirm younguns are seemingly drinking less but definitely not shy about many other drugs.

When a pint costs an hours wage, it's unsurprising that people will supplement with a cheeky bit of drugs.

 

[Gazwag]

It's a good thing that the young are turning their backs on booze. It will improve public health and pressure on public services in the long term.

However, if this trend continues, the face of our towns will change. Can Brighton support the sheer number of pubs that it currently does? Probably not. It's bad news for brewers, kebab house etc.

Ah but people wont need to leave their seats until after the half time whistle

 

[Stumpy Tim]

I can't believe there are people saying this is a bad thing! The damage of alcohol on society, especially with youth drinking, is huge. Shows what a grip alcohol has on our generation.

In our day, we had to meet in person if we wanted to socialise... usually at the pub or someone's house. Drinking together was part of that. Today there are all sorts of online games where kids socialise, and hence there's no need to drink. Not a bad thing

 

[ManOfSussex]

What social skills did you develop, that those who didn't drink underage have tragically missed out on?

I can't believe there are people saying this is a bad thing! The damage of alcohol on society, especially with youth drinking, is huge. Shows what a grip alcohol has on our generation.

In our day, we had to meet in person if we wanted to socialise... usually at the pub or someone's house. Drinking together was part of that. Today there are all sorts of online games where kids socialise, and hence there's no need to drink. Not a bad thing

I'm not talking about drinking to excess or becoming dependant, but surely as a 16/17 year old as I was with my peers from 6th from college, drinking regularly in a pub, interacting socially in person with ourselves and others in an adult environment helped us develop respect, respect for others, self restraint and knowing our limits in alcohol consumption, becoming accepted, being respected and being part of something and did far more for not just our 'in person' social skills, but also our self esteem and self confidence when we headed off at 18 into the big,wide world than gaming online and being surgically connected to our devices as per the way of the modern world.

The last hurrah of being 17 for me in the pub we used to drink at was Euro96 - being part of that pub and part of all that and the camaraderie entailed surely beats playing Xbox.

 

[Stumpy Tim]

I'm not talking about drinking to excess or becoming dependant, but surely as a 16/17 year old as I was with my peers from 6th from college, drinking regularly in a pub, interacting socially in person with ourselves and others in an adult environment helped us develop respect, respect for others, self restraint and knowing our limits in alcohol consumption, becoming accepted, being respected and being part of something and did far more for not just our 'in person' social skills, but also our self esteem and self confidence when we headed off at 18 into the big,wide world than gaming online and being surgically connected to our devices as per the way of the modern world.

The last hurrah of being 17 for me in the pub we used to drink at was Euro96 - being part of that pub and part of all that and the camaraderie entailed surely beats playing Xbox.

I would argue 17 year olds don't need booze for any of that. Let's face it, how often does "just one drink" turn into loads and getting hammered? Anything that discourages drinking gets my vote to be honest - one day it'll go the same way as smoking in my opinion.

Give me the choice of my kids drinking or having a bit of weed now and again, I know which I would prefer. Not now obviously, they're 9 and 7

 

[ManOfSussex]

I would argue 17 year olds don't need booze for any of that. Let's face it, how often does "just one drink" turn into loads and getting hammered? Anything that discourages drinking gets my vote to be honest - one day it'll go the same way as smoking in my opinion.

Give me the choice of my kids drinking or having a bit of weed now and again, I know which I would prefer. Not now obviously, they're 9 and 7

Perhaps you're right. Give me the choice of my time as a 16/17 year old and the internet and everything that entails for a 16/17 year old today and I'll take what I had every-time - a pub jukebox full of 90's Brit Pop and a £1 coin still seems a whole lot more fun to me than a set of headphones full of iTunes today.

 

[Triggaaar]

I'm not talking about drinking to excess or becoming dependant, but surely as a 16/17 year old as I was with my peers from 6th from college, drinking regularly in a pub, interacting socially in person with ourselves and others in an adult environment helped us develop respect, respect for others, self restraint and knowing our limits in alcohol consumption, becoming accepted, being respected and being part of something and did far more for not just our 'in person' social skills, but also our self esteem and self confidence when we headed off at 18 into the big,wide world

Maybe it worked for you, maybe even me, but it's not like I don't know decent people our age who didn't share that experience. Can't believe I'm typing this, but you don't have to drink in a pub under-age in order to develop social skills and respect.

than gaming online and being surgically connected to our devices as per the way of the modern world.

Well that's another point altogether - yes, parents shouldn't let their children be on their devices all the time, their children should also interact with others face to face to develop basic skills.

The last hurrah of being 17 for me in the pub we used to drink at was Euro96 - being part of that pub and part of all that and the camaraderie entailed surely beats playing Xbox.

I went to several games at Euro 96 and loved it. Sadly we don't host the Euros in England every month. My Xbox, however, is available. It's not really comparing like with like.

 

[Triggaaar]

Anything that discourages drinking gets my vote to be honest - one day it'll go the same way as smoking in my opinion.

No chance. It's nothing like smoking.

 

[Herr Tubthumper]

https://youtu.be/CZ_ZwU2RnfY

 

[banjo]

They all pre drink at home these days. Then go out about midnight. Well my two do. Saves them a fortune apparently.

 

[ManOfSussex]

Maybe it worked for you, maybe even me, but it's not like I don't know decent people our age who didn't share that experience. Can't believe I'm typing this, but you don't have to drink in a pub under-age in order to develop social skills and respect.

Well that's another point altogether - yes, parents shouldn't let their children be on their devices all the time, their children should also interact with others face to face to develop basic skills.

I went to several games at Euro 96 and loved it. Sadly we don't host the Euros in England every month. My Xbox, however, is available. It's not really comparing like with like.

If it maybe worked for me and my mates and maybe worked for others including you, my point is the void of that not happening today is not being filled and properly replaced for people like me and my mates. You don't have to drink underage in a pub to develop social skills and respect, but you're missing out on some and something more positive too if you don't in my opinion as well as people and experiences you wouldn't otherwise have or encounter.

Euro96 was the merely an example of the utter high point of the time in a pub I went in regularly underage that showed many sporting events and held events of it's own too. If I'd been teetotal at 16/17 years of age, I'd have never have experienced any of them, as I'd never have gone in there otherwise.