The party’s over: police crack down on ‘stag capital’

IT WAS when a men’s magazine declared Tenby the second best location in the world for stag parties that its problems really began.

Coach loads of scantily clad 20-something revellers, of both sexes, started descending on the Pembrokeshire town in their droves.

Come August, without fail, the quaint seaside resort suffered an invasion of rowdy drunks behaving inappropriately, outnumbering the population 10 to one at weekends and creating a Wild West image.

Now, in a bid to stamp out the “lewd” behaviour, police in Tenby have banned crude costumes, sex toys and blow-up dolls from the town, for the summer at least.

The raucous games and accessories so often associated with hen and stag parties would no longer be tolerated, police said.

Drunk partygoers will be removed from trains before they even reach Tenby and will be prevented from boarding if acting inappropriately.

Sergeant Steve Dawkins, from British Transport Police, said: “Some of the hen and stag nights have certain memorabilia with them that doesn’t want to be seen by young families with children. We want to nip this in the bud because we will not tolerate any of this behaviour.

“It is a high visibility presence, walking through the train and making sure the families feel safe and any lewdness or crudeness is stamped out at the earliest opportunity.”

Most of the year Tenby is home to around 6,000 people. But as partygoers flood in during the summer, numbers swell to 60,000.

In 2014, Tenby introduced the principality’s first “controlled drinking zone” to curb anti-social behaviour and in 2007, the town council even called for a blanket ban on all hen and stag weekends. It was never enforced.

The latest initiative, called Operation Lion, is led by Dyfed-powys Police, alongside British Transport Police and Arriva Trains Wales.

It involves extra officers patrolling trains heading into Tenby to put people with young children at ease.

Additional officers will be on duty at Tenby station and on the streets to deal with “the increase of crime, disorder and anti-social behaviour” the town experiences over the summer.

Laurence Blackhall, former mayor and a member of Tenby Town Council, said that in recent years, the situation had noticeably improved. “We are a successful family resort and Operation Lion is about keeping it that way.”

‘Some hen and stag nights have certain memorabilia with them that doesn’t want to be seen by young families’