to think chavy, tacky hen parties should SOD off [Edited by MNHQ at OP's request]

[CannoninD]

I’m fed up.
I’ve lived in my beautiful, respectful and historic city my entire life .... but over the last year it’s been invaded by GOD AWFUL hen parties!

20+ strong groups of horrifically common (referring to behaviour not social class) women who inflict their horrific behaviour on everybody within reach.

They’re EVERYWHERE and I know it’s not just me as there are sunbstantial concerns being raised by residents all over the city.

I counted 23 large groups this weekend (I only walked into the (small ish) city centre on Saturday morning and witnessed the following behaviour-

• Loud swearing (F and C word) right in front of/across young families and children just trying to enjoy a day out.
• Shop doors slammed in elderly shoppers faces (too busy pratting around to pay any attention).
• Stock being damaged by pratting about (and then hidden) to avoid paying.
• Horrifically vulgar and inappropriate content being loudly discussed in family areas (a garden/park area) to the point that families got up and left.
• Completely inappropriate Lingerie being worn in the street (before 2pm).
• Vomiting in the street! Whilst being jeered by the rest of the group.

Personally I would rather bleach out my own eyes than go on a hen do like this- but honestly at what point do we just call the police on these ridiculous idiots inflicting such unreasonable behaviour on families and regular people? What’s worse is, I bet back home they’re perfectly normal women. They just all get together and come away from home and behave like total arseholes!

Being in a large group and celebrating an event- does not give you a hall pass to behave like scum. 😡

I’m sure stags are just as bad - but we have fewer of them. So it’s less of an imediate issue for me. I can only comment on what I witness.

I have been on maybe 15-20 stag dos over the years and I guess a key difference is that for pretty much all of them there has been some kind of daytime activity (paintballing/go karting/speedboat etc) which often means you are not drinking for a few hours therefore not staggering around some town centre at 2pm absolutely smashed. Don't get me wrong, the evening is a different matter but the worse excesss are not being witnessed by kids and OAPs.

I had a student job years ago working in a bar in Weymouth which was getting pretty popular as a stag/hen destination at the time and the most grief we had was always from the hens, especially when playing those stupid dare games where things got out of hand very quickly when some random guy did not want to kiss one of the hens or hand over his pants or whatever. I have had drinks thrown over me and called gay because strangely enough I did not want some pissed womens hands down my front or her sweaty tits in my face.

Blokes got very drunk, got sick, made twats out of themselves, passed out or just got loud and annoying, on a rare occasion there would be a fight and the bouncers had to sort it out. Most of the time only a quiet word was required and the stag group would pipe down or move on.

I agree with you. I had my hen do in York earlier this year. In the day yes I wore a 'bride to be' jumper but otherwise we were sober, courteous and respectful to everyone who was around. Things obviously got more raucous as the night went on but we were a- in pubs/bars and b- nowhere near any children. And I must say I felt self conscious dressed up as a 'hen' all weekend because people expect bad behaviour and that's just not me!

A woman who would walk pissed around a city at 2pm waving a large plastic willy and talking inappropriately in front of children is unlikely to take on board your words. More likely she'll call you a stuck up snob and carry on regardless I'm afraid.

Reminds me of some people on this thread...

On a serious note, I don't know how anyone can defend this kind of behaviour, or why they think it's fun. I suspect the daytime drinking for hens but not stags is some sort attempt at mitigating personal risk. The women feel safer getting so drunk they're paralytic during the daytime with plenty of people around to see than they do in the evening, and the men don't worry about being more vulnerable to crime when paralytic.

Otherwise, all I can say is that if this is how the prospect of getting married makes you feel, don't marry him!

What is a “hen do” anyway? What is it for?

Does anyone admit to having one?!

I've just told my husband why I no longer want to go to York and he said he'd seen posts about the kind of behaviour described on this thread on his angling messageboard. He said it seems to be like that in several UK cities. What a shock it must be to foreign tourists to these places to witness such behaviour. Very depressing.

I don't know how people can act like this. How about having some dignity and self respect?
A friend of a friend recently had her hen do- afternoon tea at the Ritz, a boat trip on the Thames and then home.
Sounds lovely.

Move to Norwich Op....we get none of that chavvy behaviour there

I was going to post something similar but didn't want to advertise a new destination! Being off the beaten track has its advantages but P of W Road gets a bit rough.

Are you allowed to film them and put it on FB or You tube, let their families and employers see their slobbish behaviour.

People saying they aren’t going to visit York, no need for that, just go mid-week, York is lovely

What is a “hen do” anyway?

It's the phenomenon whereby otherwise level headed sensible women don fairy wings, pink t-shirts and giant inflatable cocks and drink until they pass out having had a fight with their best mate, weed in an alleyway and shouted at any vaguely attractive man first.*

*I might be generalising

My “hen party” - a meal, a show, cocktails at the Mondorin Hotel and then going upstairs to bed!

I love York in the winter especially just before Christmas.

What is a “hen do” anyway? What is it for?

I think it's to make the most out of one of your last days of being technically single, before you vow to be faithful. The women on hens that I've overheard seem to be trying to convince themselves that they're having fun, as much as anybody else. They remind me of nothing so much as people holding a last party for a friend before their friend is sentenced to life in prison.

Perhaps they feel like they are.

Don't marry him!

I am baffled at posters thinking that children potentially seeing bondage-clad simulated sex isn't a big deal!

I wouldn't be ok with that anywhere near my 8 year old, and I would be reporting the group. You might think that is "pearl clutching". I prefer to call it "parenting".

As a disabled person, if I was in a wheelchair, I wouldn't necessarily be able to cross the road and shouldn't have to!

I guess you are not from the UK Copenhagen?

A hen do is what people in Americal would call a Bachelorette Party. Traditionally it was the weekend before the wedding and was a night out for the bride and her female friends/family. It would often involve a meal at a restaurant or an activity (spa etc I had a murder mystery thing perhaps including some risque games) or in some cases a pub crawl.

These days it appears to have become an all weekend event piss up and they have got totally out of hand.

Until I read this thread York was top of my list of places I want to visit before I die. Now it's not on the list at all

No, No, Illegitimi non carborundum, don't let them win! York is a lovely city and well worth visiting, just avoid the weekend dregs.

I visit York regularly but always midweek. On my last visit there I was leaving on the Friday as the hens were pouring out of the train station. One of them had 'Big Sandra' printed on the front of her t-shirt and 'smash me back doors in' printed on the back.

Utterly, utterly ghastly.

mabelsgarden:

"And where she thinks the boozy chavs (as she calls them) should go instead?! "

So we're starting from the position that people inevitably have to behave like this? Maybe they shouldn't do this anywhere. Maybe drunken behaviour in the street isn't actually inevitable.

Maybe some of the people defending it on here think it's normal themselves. And defending it on the basis that people who don't like it are snobs is an insult to working class people. Behaving like a slob isn't synonymous with being working class and focusing on the way the OP has described the antisocial behaviour is a red herring designed to shift the discussion away from the original point.

But carry on people, defend the drink...

My daughter was 4 months old so my hen do was Pizza Express followed by a couple of drinks in our local. My friends did buy me a tiara which they made me wear but no willy straws, inflatable penises or L plates in sight

A friend of my parents has been banging on about how her daughter isn’t having a hen do, she’s having a ‘swan do’

WTF is a swan do? I saw the pics in FB, it still seemed to involve inflatable willies and being pissed up at 2pm

Hen do's differ from Stag Do's in that women think they are invincible, and do not have to answer to anyone because they are ..well women.

No behaviour is bad enough that they can't ' flirt' their way out of.

Prosecco can be drunk without any care as to when and how much, apparently.

Ask any bar or venue in a major city and they tell you that Hen do's are much worse than Stag do's.

In Temple Bar in Dublin, Hen Do's were banned and Stags were allowed to continue.

I may be generalising too much here, but when women are at the marrying stage, they are perhaps not as used to going out on big sessions as men are at the Stag Do stage.

I use York races as a prime example..Women turn up on minibuses at 11.00 A.M, already worse for wear having consumed the obligatory fizz. Men tend to realise that an all day and night session needs a bit more pacing, so tend not to go off at ridiculous pace. By mid afternoon, the hen do's are splayed out asleep on the grass.

Saturday Evenings in York are pretty horrific at the best of times; on race days they are even worse..real no go areas for most folk.

YANBU. My heart sinks when I see them turn up at the airport too. Nine times out of ten they're on my flight.

Imagine choosing to wear a tee shirt emblazoned with a request to be anally raped. What the fuck is wrong with people?

WTF is a swan do? I saw the pics in FB, it still seemed to involve inflatable willies and being pissed up at 2pm

It's a middle class hen do, key difference is that you drink champagne rather then prosecco.

Kate Middleton had a Madagascan Horn Billed Toucan Do

Surprised to read all ten pages of this and not see my seaside hometown mentioned for stag and hen parties!

I agree with you op. It's vile.