Let 16-year-olds drink in pubs, says Welsh cop

A top North Wales Police officer has called for 16-year-olds to be allowed to drink in pubs in a bid to reduce under-age binge drinking and its associated problems.

Inspector Roly Schwarz, who's based in Rhyl and Prestatyn, said the move could help monitor alcohol consumption of young people and teach them acceptable levels of behaviour.

'Young people are going to drink alcohol, but they must be shown how to enjoy it,' ​he told the North Wales Daily Post.

Schwarz made the comments after a survey of 2,000 teenagers in Denbighshire revealed 88% of 16-year-old girls and 79% of boys of the same age admitted to having been drunk.

The survey also revealed that children in the area spent more than £75,000 on alcohol last year.

'Eighty per cent of children between the ages of 11 and 17 are given alcohol by their parents but what their parents don't realise is they are also drinking at other times,' ​Schwarz added.

However, North Wales Police were quick to distance themselves from the comments, saying it was a personal opinion of Inspector Schwarz and did not reflect that of the force.

Trade leaders and licensees poured scorn on the idea, claiming that the job of a licensee was already hard enough.

Federation of Licensed Victuallers Associations chief executive Tony Payne said: 'In the past young people went in to the pub and had a pint, but it was with their family and was controlled and sensible.'​

'I have always said we should be more like France where they learn to drink with their families. ​

'The problem if you lowered the age would be how would you control it in the town centres? It would be almost impossible.'

Dennis Griffiths, licensee of the Miners Rest in Barnsley, added: 'I think if you drop the level, then you will get 14 and 15-year-olds coming in. ​

'For once the answer does not lie with us. Young people have nowhere to go these days.

'There are no youth clubs or pool bars with jukeboxes where they can go so they either hang out in the street or try and get in to pubs when it is cold.'