• 2012 activity >>
  • Meet the Drinkaware 'Mumtank' panel
• 2011 activity >>
  • Your kids and alcohol launch event
  • Why let good times go bad? 2011
• 2010 activity >>
  • Why let good times go bad? 2010
  • Newquay Safe Partnership & the Got Your Back Cafe
  • Why waste your week being wasted?
  • Hoof it!
  • Drink less, be more
• 2009 activity >>
  • Alcohol and young people: what's the attraction?
  • Alcohol: what's the attraction? Young people speak out
  • Alcohol and redundancy
  • Drink less, miss less
  • Why let good times go bad
  • Topshop and Topman staff event
  • What's Britain drinking this Christmas?
• 2008 activity >>
  • Point of sale campaign
  • Alcohol: how much is too much?
  • Tips for a Christmas to remember

Drinkaware was approached early in 2010 by the Home Office to work with the Newquay Safe Partnership, an initiative that brings together police, council, residents, local businesses and organisations, including pubs, clubs, off-licenses, to tackle alcohol misuse and irresponsible behaviour in Newquay.

As the largest tourist destination in Cornwall, Newquay attracts around 6,000 16-17 year olds over a four week period each summer. In July 2009 there were two alcohol related deaths and one serious injury caused by young people falling of cliffs in Newquay.  This led to residents demanding coordinated action and the formation of Newquay Safe.

Drinkaware helped the Newquay Safe Partnership with planning and implementation. In its first year Newquay Safe led to significant reductions in crime and anti-social behaviour (down 19%), as well as cost savings. 

Drinkaware’s report on the Newquay Safe Partnership - ‘Local responses to national alcohol issues’, identifies key guiding principles to setting up similar initiatives in other towns and cities.

Got Your Back Cafe

As part of our 2010 summer youth campaign, Drinkaware also positioned itself on the frontline in Newquay, opening an exclusive alcohol-free café, providing advice and support for 16 and 17 year olds on holiday.

The Got Your Back Café ran for six days in July and acted as a fun and informal environment where young people could meet friends, hang-out and order discounted food and soft drinks while having access to alcohol facts and information. The Café also boasted a photo booth, table football, DJ decks and Wii games, as well as facilities that encouraged young people to keep in touch with their friends and stay safe, such as free internet access and phone charging.

Launched alongside the Newquay Safe Partnership and spearheaded by the local council and police, the ‘Got Your Back’ campaign aimed to encourage friends to look out for each other, think about the risks of excessive drinking and provided advice to keep teens safe.

Research

Drinkaware released research to coincide with the opening of the ‘Got Your Back’ Café, which showed that 39% of parents with 16 or 17 year old children had previously provided alcohol for their children’s holiday. More than half (53%) of those parents admitted to giving five or more bottles of spirits or wine. One in five (22%) parents said they bought their teenager alcohol to keep track of their drinking.

Report and Parliamentary reception

Following on from the summer activity, Drinkaware published its own report in December 2010, ‘Local responses to national alcohol issues’, outlining the results and learnings from our work with the Newquay Safe Partnership.

To mark the launch of the report and to showcase the success of the initiative, Drinkaware held a parliamentary reception at the House of Commons, which was attended by more than 80 people including politicians and representatives from the Newquay Safe Partnership, the public health community, local government and the drinks industry.

Speakers at the event included Stephen Gilbert MP, Newquay, Superintendent Julie Whitmarsh, Newquay Safe and Philip Loring, Community Alcohol Partnerships.  Discussion focussed on the impact of the initiative, what worked well and why, and hailed Newquay as an exemplary model for future partnership schemes for towns and cities across the UK. 

If you are a parent or a professional working with under 18s visit our Talking to under 18s area for advice and resources.

A number of Newquay Safe Partnership resources are available here.