Holyland off licences to close on St Patrick’s day

The off licences will close voluntarily in a bid to help reduce anti-social behaviour


St Patrick’s Day 2017 could end up being a more sober event than intended as the Off licences of the Holylands have volunteered to close on the holiday, in order to help reduce anti-social behaviour.

The move is intended to help with the city’s goal of creating a “family friendly atmosphere” during the carnival in the city centre, with the hope that this peaceful celebration extends to the notoriously riotous streets of South Belfast.

The move has the support of Chief Executive of Hospitality Ulster, Colin Neill. Neill said: “I can understand both sides of this debate. I have sympathy with residents of the Holylands, who have been subjected to unacceptable behaviour on St Patrick’s Day, year after year. However, I also have sympathy for the local Off-sales and commend them for voluntarily agreeing to close.”

However, Neill thinks the curb in alcohol should be taken a step further, calling for the “supermarkets to match the actions of the local Off-sales and stop deliveries of alcohol into the Holylands area on St Patrick’s Day and the day before.” He justifies this by reasoning that “the majority of alcohol is most likely purchased in supermarkets at rock bottom prices in the days leading up to the event” and contributes significantly to creating the “so called ‘street party’ problem.”

He added further, “Hospitality Ulster will be doing all that it can in co-operation with the PSNI and others to ensure any trouble is minimised on the day, though in our view this problem goes far beyond the sale of alcohol and can only be addressed by a proper strategy to rebalance the mix of residents locally which has become unbalanced in favour of student accommodation.”

His final comment here may be an allusion to the proposed attempts to ‘destudentify’ the Holylands area by creating new student accommodation elsewhere.

Superintendent Melanie Jones reiterated the priority of several organisations of cracking down on anti-social behaviour: “As in previous years, we will be working alongside Belfast City Council and in South Belfast, with Queen’s University Belfast and the University of Ulster, the Belfast Met and local schools, who will again proactively encourage young people and students to stay off the streets of the Holyland on St Patrick’s Day.

She also offered a warning to students and young people: “We are planning joint enforcement patrols with Belfast City Council’s Antisocial Behaviour Officers to seize alcohol from anyone drinking in the street and to minimise antisocial behaviour in general. Students who become involved in rowdy or disorderly behaviour risk disciplinary action by their universities, colleges and schools.

“In the past, overindulgence in alcohol has led some people to act in a way they would never do when sober. This has previously resulted in assaults, damage to property and annoyance to others and we are making it clear that this behaviour is not acceptable.”

She also offered a reminder that having a criminal record “can affect travel, education and employment opportunities in the future.”

As seen in the McClay

Queen’s have launched a campus wide campaign asking students to ‘Show respect to your neighbours, your community and yourself on St Patrick’s Day,’ emphasising the penalties students can face if charged with anti-social behaviour.