On normally quieter midweek nights drinkers wear the event’s branded t-shirt - which acts a ticket to participating pubs, bars and clubs - across 36 UK cities three times a year.
Carnage UK events serve an estimated 350,000 customers a year, and are often targeted by tabloid snappers looking for drunken students.
Binge drinking
Spokesman for Carnage Steven Hughes said “a regrettable minority of individuals” are to blame for the excessive drinking and anti-social behavior which damages its reputation.
The event came to Hull on Sunday (October 18). A spokesman for Humberside Police told the Publican’s Morning Advertiser the event is “well organised”, and police work with organisers to ensure it’s crime-free.
Police said freshers’ activities are “generally good natured requiring minimal additional policing”.
Carnage’s parent company Varsity Leisure Group provides security to participating venues, and employs private medical staff.
High profile incidents
The event was founded in 2007, and condemned in 2009 when a student in Sheffield was pictured urinating on a war memorial in the first of a series of high-profile incidents.
But Hughes defended its reputation: “Newspapers can’t write ‘3,000 people came out, one caused trouble’. We had one Carnage story - ‘student picks up traffic cone’. If that person wasn’t wearing a Carnage t-shirt it wouldn’t be a story. If a man is wearing an Armani shirt and does something wrong, is that Armani’s fault?”
'Dangerous'
But Professor Paul Wallace, chief medical adviser to alcohol education charity Drinkaware, warned that the very nature of pub crawls is dangerous.
He said: “Organised drinking events, such as pub crawls, are notorious for excessive consumption of alcohol in a short space of time.
“Participating in a pub crawl may lead you to drink not at your own pace as you are trying to keep up with the fastest drinker.”
This can be “extremely dangerous”, he added.
And the British Beer and Pub Association warned against venues serving customers who are already drunk, or promoting irresponsible behaviour.
Good for trade
Carnage is predominantly based in larger bar and club chains such as Walkabout and Yates’s, but does use independents.
Students are allowed to move freely between the venues listed, and can visit pubs not taking part.
Hughes said: “They could be empty midweek. It’s an additional bonus. A lot of uni students have arrived in the city, and customers might not otherwise find venues.”
By his own admission Carnage doesn’t make “phenomenal” revenue for pubs and bars on the night, but it has a long-term benefit.
“If they put on fantastic service then customers associate the venue with having a great time, and come back,” Hughes added.