Concerns over crowds drinking in busy suburb

HUGE crowds of people drinking in the streets, urinating in public and intimidating residents have been reported in a city suburb.

The trouble was sparked after a local pub reopened to offer its customers a takeaway drinks service.

While following all guidelines in order to try to get their business back up and running, word of mouth soon spread that the pub was serving pints and on Friday night Killay in Swansea was packed with punters.

Local residents reported seeing “hundreds” of people drinking beer and men urinating in public.

The Village Bar Cafe at Killay Precinct opened at reduced hours on June 11, allowing people to buy takeaway drinks. The bar’s owner, Martyn Jenkins, said the venue operated within the current coronavirus guidelines and that local authorities and businesses supported their decision to open.

He said the trial opening was a bid to bring life back into the area and the business.

However, following the concerns raised by local residents about the number of people gathering in Killay Square, Mr Jenkins said the trial opening “has not turned out as we planned”.

The bar has now stopped trading at weekends.

One local resident, who wished to remain anonymous, said he saw “no social distancing” while in Killay Square with his daughter at around 6pm on Friday.

“I was walking past Killay Square with my eight-year-old at around 5.50pm on Friday. There must have been hundreds of people talking and drinking beer,” he said.

“Many of them were in their 50s and unlikely to be from the same family. There was no social distancing at all. It was quite a scary experience for my daughter. On a normal day during lockdown you’d see three or four people at the square max. I feel for the older people trying to get essentials at the Co-op. The queue for the shop, because of social distancing, backs onto the square.”

Another resident said she saw men urinating on walls in the area and said “it was not very pleasant” for adults or children in the area.

Councillor for Killay South, Jeff Jones, said he will be taking part in discussions with local businesses and PCSOs to see if anything more can be done to allow businesses to trade within coronavirus guidelines without impacting negatively on locals. He said: “We have been inundated – absolutely inundated – with complaints. They reopened a few weeks ago and there were problems from the start. The police have attended every week.

“The Village has confirmed it is operating within the guidelines. The issue is that with it, there are repercussions. There is still supposed to be social distancing, but people might be standing too close to each other.

“It is also the only bar in the area to have opened, so they may be getting customers from other venues. Killay is a lovely area with a very low level of crime. There are a lot of elderly people in the area and the last thing they want is to squeeze past lots of people who are drinking to get where they need to go.

“The other problem is, when there is drinking, people need to urinate. There are no public toilets open and people might instead urinate on the street. We understand that venues might need to operate so we will be discussing how we might be able to improve the situation.”

Mr Jenkins apologised to anyone who felt uncomfortable following the bar’s opening despite their efforts to encourage social distancing and to keep disruption to a minimum.

The bar had been opening for three hours between 3pm and 6pm on Thursdays and Fridays and for four hours (11am to 3pm) on Saturday to prevent crowds and antisocial behaviour at night.

“[On Friday, June 26] we took the decision not to reopen as a take-away and have advised licensing. We are a small independent family business and it was not our intention to cause an adverse effect on our local community and we apologise to anyone who, while using the precinct, has felt uncomfortable,” said Mr Jenkins.

“In addition to local authorities, we notified the owners of the precinct itself and local shopkeepers – all were supportive as they recognised the benefit of having people use the precinct.

“We display clear signage regarding social distancing, advise everyone who purchases a drink to comply with this, regularly walk around the precinct to enforce distancing and clear away any mess.

“We provide bins for plastic containers and we clear away all debris after we have closed.

“Our customers were regulars who understand the conditions we are operating under, respect their local community and the people who they live next to, and although we have tried, unfortunately we can’t continuously enforce social distancing.”

South Wales Police has not commented on this specific incident, but said it has seen an increase in reports of antisocial behaviour in some areas across South Wales.

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