Graduates reliving glory years ‘make Leeds look like Magaluf ’

BEER drinkers on a student pub crawl could be issued with on-the-spot fines for the first time, owing to a rise in bad behaviour blamed on graduates trying to relive their “glory years”.

The Otley Run, which involves drinkers trying to visit more than a dozen pubs on Otley Road in Leeds, has been viewed as a rite of passage for students in the city and is popular with stag parties.

But councillors say the crawl’s growing popularity in recent years had led to it becoming “larger and much more intense”, with one describing it as making “Headingley look like Magaluf ”.

Increasing incidents of anti-social behaviour has led to women being harassed, according to Leeds city council.

Neil Walshaw, a Labour councillor, suggested the blame mostly lay with older drinkers. “Judging from the hairlines and the waistlines, it’s not undergraduates: it’s Gavin and Gary from accounts who are coming back to relive their glory days,” he said.

He added that it was these older drinkers who were causing the real issues along the road.

“Actually, we do need to take it seriously”, he said. “Joking aside, it’s led to some cases of street harassment of female residents.”

Mr Walshaw said that on a Friday and Saturday night, the pub crawl was mak-king “Headingley look like Magaluf ”.

Claire Smith, head of safer neighbourhoods and anti-social behaviour at Leeds city council, told the meeting that the council was doing a “targeted response” for the problem areas that would be “a lot tighter than it was before”.

She pointed out that the Headingley and Hyde Park areas of Leeds were under a public spaces protection order, which gives powers to issue immediate fines for anti-social behaviour.

While fines have not previously been issued on the Otley Run, Ms Smith said the council was now considering it.

She said: “With the issues it’s causing, it’s something we need to do. We’ve noticed there has been quite an increase and it’s caused quite a bit of nuisance.”

The Otley Run includes about 15 pubs, usually beginning at Woodie’s Craft Ale House and ending at The Dry Dock, around two miles away in the city centre. Participants of the crawl often do it in fancy dress, and begin from early in the afternoon.

‘Judging from the hairlines, it’s not undergraduates: it’s guys who are coming back to relive their glory days’