Panorama, Oldham, Drinking and Half-Assed Solutions

Whilst away I got to see Panorama's damning indictment of Oldham and it's drinking, and well, it was missing a few things. I've already done a piece on Oldham, prescient as it turns out.

And whilst Panorama did do some good investigating - not simply blaming the pubs as the Council and Police are desperately trying to do, but also highlighting the 'pre-loading' with cheap alcohol that goes on - they also missed out a fair bit.

For example, they didn't mention how the smoking ban has made pre-loading part of the whole night out experience though... After all, if you can smoke and drink cheaply inside, why go to the pub so early? Of course that way you drink more, no playing pool, quiz or fruit machines, or having to wait for bar staff to serve you.

The number of bars quoted wasn't entirely accurate, it included ones that aren't flesh pits - the Ashton Arms and Hark to Topper are quieter affairs, and I think their counting included The Bar, which hasn't been open for over two years now, Buddha, which closed last year, and Brownz which has been closed for a couple of months.

It was also quite careful not to film overly much in the bars - the filming in Vogue displayed the place was dead, something that is reflected across all bars in Yorkshire Street until around 11pm. It was also amusing that the queueing example was done in TV21, a bar in Manchester's Northern Quarter, rather than any bar in Oldham.

Other parts were missed out, the whole Brownz issue - a bar that was closed down when, after months of trouble, it exploded into a frenzy of stabbing and fighting. It's owner has now scrapped appealing the closure, no surprise given the police suspect the owner and his son of various less-than-legal activities, and described him as being unfit to hold a licence - which was the source of so much of the violence.

It also trotted out some horrific rape stats, also missing out some vital information. It's an unpleasant fact, and one I'm surprised the attack dogs of the BNP haven't jumped on yet, that there are those minority youths who feel its a good idea to pack into a car, put on some loud music and go cruise for drunken 'easy white pussy' in the early hours of the morning. It's not unique to Oldham, but seeing a tricked-out car filled with teenage and early-20's sober Asians trying to pick up drunken vulnerable girls, worse the wear and separated from their friends is an ugly scene.

They're not the only problem, but they are a substantial one, and one that also helps fuel the racial divide. I think it's really only their own community that can handle it - given how difficult rape cases are, and how few are even reported, the police aren't going to make a dent in it.

It also completely failed to tackle the large drugs problem, cocaine usage has shot up in Oldham and is now a regular part of many peoples nights out. The clubs and bars would prefer you didn't take it in, and if caught in possession or use of it will get barred. You will not, however, be arrested - they're not going to call the police as that's going to drive away custom, and might just give the police the idea to exercise the sniffer dogs, and that's something no one wants. Not enough cells for starters...

There was also no mention of just how much the footfall and pub-counter alcohol sales have crashed over the last decade. Just 5 years ago you could go out on a Thursday, and every bar on Yorkshire Street - and there were more bars than now - was thriving with a much greater range of drink promotions than there are now. I have fond recollections of going into the Litten Tree, where they did a Stock Market Crash drinks promotion - prices would change depending on sales, and occasional drinks prices would 'crash', one night I managed to demolish an impressively large amount of Southern Comfort on the cheap.

We have less promotions, less bars, less alcohol sales in the pubs, and somehow that's equated to greater violence? Hows that work then?

The Panorama programme was an interesting show, but it barely scratched the surface and only showed a couple facets of the problems facing Oldham. The Council is desperately trying to clean up Oldham's image, but they're part of the problem - they have no idea of what's going on, and as such their solutions are based upon faulty premises.