Your Evening Your City initiative reduces violence in Derby

An initiative called “Your Evening Your City” has helped to reduce drunkenness and violence significantly in Derby City centre. In six months, the initiative has cut drunkenness by 38% and violence by 56% amongst those leaving 23 premises in the City Centre (as measured by student researchers observing consumers from each of the 23 premises against fixed criteria at start and end of initiative in same time/day period and from the exact same vantage point.)

Instead of picking up the pieces, the initiative addresses the root causes of problems by “designing out” binge drinking and aggression in licensed premises and promoting a more positive bar environment.

This approach recognises that preventing binge drinking and aggression at source is much cheaper and far more effective than managing the weekly fall-out. The approach also recognises the importance of “positive” premises environments both in terms of moderating behaviour and in attracting different age and interest groups, creating a better social norm.

“Your Evening Your City” brings together a robust partnership of local government, local trade, national experts in responsible licensed premises management and best practice from North America, Europe and Australia. Crucially “Your Evening Your City” also provides these different stakeholders with a common, mutually beneficial agenda:

• To significantly reduce binge drinking, crime and related problems
• To broaden the city’s evening offer and make it more accessible to a wider range of people
• To promote growth and job creation in the evening economy, whilst reducing resource impacts on police, A&E and premises operators

To ensure these aims are met, the “Your Evening Your City” framework provides an “holistic programme” of problem prevention.

1. In each premises, environmental triggers to binge drinking and aggression are identified, then “designed out” with premises operators
2. Premises staff are given bespoke communications training to help them nip any problems in the bud and prevent their escalation
3. Premises operators and experts in responsible premises management work closely together to convert environmental changes and training into premises-specific Codes of Practice.

More information about “Your Evening Your City” is available from [email protected] or [email protected] and on the Bar Futures website.