Drinkaware Crew venue and customer views
Reducing vulnerability in the night-time economy – experiences and views of Drinkaware Crew.
Drinkaware Crew: The Background
Drinkaware Crew (now known as Nightlife Crew) looks after the welfare of young adults on a night out. Working in pairs Drinkaware Crew mingle with customers to promote a positive social atmosphere and assist those who may be vulnerable as a result of drinking too much alcohol.
Drinkaware Crew was informed by research insights presented in Drinkaware’s ‘Drunken Nights Out: Motivations, norms and rituals in the night-time economy’ report. Initially developed as Drinkaware Crew, the scheme was first tested in venues in Nottingham over a five-week period at the end of 2014. This informed a pilot re ran for eight months, from November 2015 - July 2018. Read our ‘Helping create a safer night time economy: Drinkaware Crew pilot’ report to discover the results.
By the end of 2018 the scheme was running in 23 venues over 11 areas. To get the views of venue staff, managers and customers to help up develop the scheme further, we commissioned some more research.
Drinkaware Crew: The Research
The research (November 2018 – January 2019) was made up with observations and interviews in nine of the venue that had Drinkaware Crew and a survey of 303 young adults aged 18-24 who had been to a venue with Drinkaware Crew.
Key findings
Venue managers and staff:
- Welcome Drinkaware Crew
- View them as part of the team
- Had little disagreement on role responsibilities
- Said they free up time, allowing management and security staff to focus on safety
- Think Drinkaware Crew are good at supporting vulnerable people
‘Crew is worth its weight in gold, takes pressure off the general management. Manager can then be released to deal with other issues like queuing. They are an extended arm.’ (student union manager)
Customers:
- 2 in 5 customers were aware of Drinkaware Crew
- 1 in 5 had personally interacted with Drinkaware Crew
- 2 in 3 (67%) think its ‘very important’ for venues to employ staff like Drinkaware Crew
- 4 in 5 (83%) feel more positive about a venue when it has Drinkaware Crew
- 3 in 4 (76%) would be willing to pay £1 more for venues that have Drinkaware Crew
‘I personally feel safer in the knowledge that there are individuals on hand to help myself and my friends if necessary. It makes me regard a company more positively, as it shows that they are socially responsible and concerned with the welfare of patrons’ (venue customer)
About Nightlife Crew
Nightlife Crew while still running in nightclubs and venues as Club Crew, it has developed to cover festivals with Festival Crew and the areas outside venues with Street Crew.
The scheme is now a train the trainer package and licensing agreement which also includes training for managers with Lead Crew and e-learning for all staff with Support Crew.