Times columnist: let under-18s into pubs

The pub is the perfect place for 16-year-olds to learn how to drink sensibly and behave while it could provide a boost for pubs — that's the view of Times​ columnist Robert Crampton.

Recalling his own youth, Crampton said that he caused much more trouble at the age of 15 outdoors before edging his way into the pub at 16.

"Being in that adult world moderated and mitigated our excesses in a less tangible way too.

"Part of the tacit arrangement with the landlord was that we had to keep a low profile, behave ourselves, act in at least a civilised manner, learn the etiquette of communal socialising.

"If you get too gobby, you would be chucked out. Literally chucked out.

"Being in a pub meant that you absorbed a code of behaviour and that code did not include being an annoying little prat, or what is nowadays called antisocial behaviour.

"A pub is actually a very good place — much better than a street — for older men and women to pass on words of wisdom or warning to those who need to hear them.

"Having youngsters in the pub has a benefit for adults too. On the street, a gang of teenagers can be an amorphous, threatening mass.

"You don't see individuals, you only see a collective threat. Fear and loathing result. In a pub, an adult can properly observe a group of youngsters and see them as people, good, bad or more likely, both."

He added: "We should be less draconian about proof of age. The pub trade could certainly do with a boost.

"Maybe a few kids in the corner, looking guilty and pretending they like John Smith's, could provide it."

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