Daily Echo - 17 July 2008

Written by Sandra Gidley on Thu 17th Jul 2008

I spent last Saturday evening with the police in Romsey. It was also the evening of the popular Beggars Fayre and all of the pubs were expecting greatly increased takings as a result. It is probably stating the obvious to say that the police were expecting a busy night but there contingency plans were in place and there were more police on duty than on the average Saturday night in Romsey.

Now, I am a great supporter of the Beggars Fayre and the atmosphere in Romsey on Saturday afternoon was brilliant. Families, and people of all ages, were enjoying the music and the street entertainment. This is the true spirit of the Beggars Fayre but the nature of the event took on a different turn as the evening progressed.

The music switched to the towns' pubs. Local publicans had been responsible by hiring extra staff and door staff and using plastic bottles and glasses. Between them they had worked out a plan for the evening. The police were also proactive in using new powers to remove regular troublemakers from the scene early in the evening.

As the evening progressed there were large numbers of people, spilling out of the pubs and drinking. Most were no harm to anyone but there was a tension in the air and it was obvious that a large number of the young men who were drinking heavily were not local.

By ten in the evening there had been a couple of arrests. On a normal Saturday night this would have left the Romsey area with little or no cover but contingency plans had been made so the town was well policed. I was therefore a little surprised when a couple of residents expressed the view that there were too many police around. If an incident had occurred and there had been too few police around then the public reaction would have been an entirely different one.

By half ten the town looked a complete mess. Shards of crushed plastic bottles and glasses were everywhere, bins were completely overflowing and tension was high. Following an incident in one of the pubs all of them stopped serving alcohol early. I was surprised when some young people, who had come into town expecting to enjoy the atmosphere, came up to us and said, "How can you let this happen to nice Romsey?"

It is a good question. Many will have enjoyed the event and no one wants to deny people an evening of entertainment but is it time to rethink the way the Fayre as the current situation is not fair on anyone - least of all the police who have to pick up the pieces if it all goes pear shaped.