South Yorkshire Times March 13th 1965
Former Leader’s Open Letter to Parents Has Denaby Up In Arms
Question of under age drinking
Talking point in Denaby this week has been the open letter, published in our last issue and addressed to parents by Mr. John Smith, former leader of the Tom Hill Youth Club, who has taken a post in Gloucestershire. In the letter Mr. Smith referred to what he described as lies and deception by some young people who engage in under-age drinking – “the most anti-social aspect of life in this area”.
General opinion is that the criticism might have been made earlier.
Mr. Bernard Richardson, licensee of the Reresby Arms, told the “South Yorkshire Times”: “Why didn’t Mr. Smith make his claims while he was here? They are a slight on licensed premises and on the police.”
Every precaution
Mr. Richardson said they took every precaution to see that young people under 18 were not allowed on the premises, but it was very difficult to guess the age of some young customers.
Under-age drinking was not a problem at the Reresby as they knew most of the young people in the area, and their ages.
“You do not get under-age drinking in the village, but this is a problem all over the country,” said Mr. Richardson. “The youngsters in Denaby have nowhere to go, and some try to sneak into pubs. There is only one cinema within easy reach and that is at Mexborough, and they don’t want to go ‘bingoing’.”
In the minority
The young people who did try to sneak into pubs in Denaby were in the minority, he said, and if a licensee had doubts about the age of a customer he would ask. A licensee had to be keen, and the police made regular visits to the pubs each week.
Mr. Leslie Cosford, of Sheffield, said he was in Denaby every week-end and he had seen nothing of under-age drinking. The young people of Denaby were no worse than young people anywhere else.