(09 Sep 2022, 2:39 pm)54APhotography wrote On the Metro school children after 5pm seem to be a major problem, antisocial behaviour and hopping stops without tickets. Drunks are an all day problem now, and have been since pub opening hours changed years ago. Football fans (a small minority) whether in drink or playing to the crowd also cause a great deal of issues. Antisocial behaviour also includes playing music loudly on phones, something it seems every age group is now guilty of.

Metro has always been a problem with school-aged children on an evening and weekend, but it's not just the Metro. Bus stations are just as bad for it. I was at the Galleries this evening and there were about 20 kids hanging around there, with a couple of them riding around on bikes as people are waiting for a bus. The lack of a staff presence has always created this haven, and the lack of police coverage (due to political choice) makes it 10x worse.

Metro has claimed to have 'hired' staff to resolve this, but we could do without the hired thugs in police fancy dress that they seem to have gone for.

I think the amount of drunk people is becoming an increasing problem, but I wouldn't personally link it to the longer licensing hours. It's more a product of homelessness, and you don't exactly have to go very far to see the extent of the problem these days. I was in Northumberland Street before 9am this morning and you had drunk homeless people fighting each other. It's a massive problem, which again is exasperated by political choice. I do think Kim McGuiness is going down the correct path with this, in terms of a multi-agency response to trying to tackle the problem, rather than the usual single-focused approach of criminalising everyone.