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 have almost gotten into a shouting match on the Edinburgh train at 11am over this, so agree YANBU. There is having fun, and there is screaming about c××ts and c××ks and waving inflatable dicks about in front of small children.

YANBU

I am with you OP and I am in London.

I hate it, many a train and tube journey has been ruined by these women. Luckily they are easy to spot a mile away so mostly I can change carriage but the pattern is the same - wearing flashing dicks on your heads and neck, shouting as loudly as possible to get everyone's attention because obviously the bride is the first person in the world to get married ever so we must recognise that being in their presence is the highlight of our day, talking about dicks and getting shit faced as loudly as possible and when these words are uttered woohooing as loudly as you can to show how FUN it all is and this is always during the day time when lots of children are around. I don't get it.

Agree about the train to Edinburgh. Hell on Earth at weekends with stag and hen parties. Cases of booze on the train, drunken loutish behaviour, etc. The guards do nothing about it.
OH was in a hotel recently with a hen do next door. He could hear what the women were talking about through the wall and was kept awake all night by screeching . He came back ashen ! Couldn’t believe some of what he overheard. If it were a family listening to that ...

I hate to say it but I think we’ve become ‘the place’ to hen party so certain areas (including Newcastle) and most of the large groups I see causing such a mess (behaving awfully) have very distinct accents.

What’s been said above about ‘we rely on their business’ is so true and yes our high street is failing, but surely that’s because NOBODY wants to sodding use it BECAUSE of these awful tacky hen do’s.

They might be spending £££ on food and alcohol but I highly doubt they’re supporting local shops (clothes, art, toys, pharmacy’s) which seem to be going out of business at a worrying rate. So to the ‘hospitality’ business owners who are supporting and encouraging this behaviour. Maybe consider that YOU’RE part of the reason that our high street is collapsing around you.

Locals and families are avoiding it like the plague, it’s crawling with police....but you sold 40 shots to a hen do so who cares?

I actually do know that some of the larger chain hotels in the centre have banned groups (unless an organised group like sporting or hobby) / won’t let multiple adults share a room. It’s not discouraging them though!

Yanbu. Really get why intelligent woman reduce themshelves to this. Might also lived in york at one point. Beautiful city. My fav bit being the stambles in the dark. Very magical.

If people are out on the streets and so drunk that they are vomiting, shouting, trying to "have sex with a traffic cone", bumping into children and don't notice that they are slamming doors in old ladies' faces, then surely they should be arrested for being "drunk and disorderly"? Why don't the police round all these offenders up and incarcerate them - or does that offence not exist any more?

The behaviour described in the OP is inexcusable, regardless of what time of day or night it is. It is definitely NOT ok to behave like that at ANY time!

Hen Do's used to be a few friends gathering in the bride's home or in the local pub the night before the wedding, to have a couple of drinks and wish her luck. Nowadays they've turned into an entire weekend or even holidays abroad. I didn't have any kind of hen do, as I couldn't afford it. My sisters ditto. People nowadays have far too much money to waste, it seems!

@CannoninD I understand completely! I live in York and once you've seen women completely lose control of their bladders in the middle of coney street in the middle of the day, you can't really unsee it....

BUT: if you avoid that side of town and stick to the area around shambles/the monster, you might not even know they are there.

Pity the nice restaurants and shops at the top of Micklegate who are in the eye of the storm.

OP, I feel your pain. I run a business in York, but if I didn't, I wouldn't be anywhere near the centre of town from about midday on Saturday. Hens are even worse than stags IME, though I have a ban on both types of party.

Liverpool and Birkenhead. 😩

Those that can’t afford a cheap guest house in Bath or York (who must allow the trade) stay in their local area and hire a minibus to ferry them around the pubs.

The minibuses have TRAVEL IN STYLE- HEN NIGHTS - NIGHTS OUT and CHILDREN’S BIRTHDAYS written on them. Seriously? You’d want your children to go to an event in a vehicle that was weed and vomited in the night before?

I once witnessed one of these vans discharging a group of women in Birkenhead when a school minibus pulled up and out spilled a group of elderly men. I don’t think the groups knew each other but within five minutes they had paired up, in the street, and some were dry humping whilst others watched and cheered. There’s a video on the internet somewhere. It was truly weird.

Cases of booze on the train, drunken loutish behaviour, etc. The guards do nothing about it

Do trains still have emergency buttons you can press? What would happen if you pressed it and stopped the train and asked for the drunks to be evicted from the train as they are a menace to all other passengers? Maybe if someone did that every time, things might change?

Or, less controversially, what if everyone affected wrote a letter of complaint to the train company - EVERY time?

I’m going for York it bath

YANBU
My first thought was York. We had a Bank Holiday weekend there last year. Lovely city but on the Saturday evening infested with groups like you describe.

Can't believe some people would think it snobby to speak out. Condemning such awful behaviour is not snobby.

I live in a hen party city to be fair some are quite classy. It’s amusing to watch the different groups the odd lairy rough group but most not one group dressed entirely as Mary poppins complete with capes

York was the place that immediately came to my mind. DH once had the misfortune to be on a train heading through there on a Saturday morning and oh my.......
Clearly not all businesses embrace it! Someone I know was at a hen weekend in the NE a couple of weekends ago and their party was refused access to a chain restaurant they had booked a table at because they were cleared a hen party! Also I was looking at campsites recently and one said ' adults only, couples only' so clearly their way of saying no groups of noise making creatures! There was a pub within a few meters of the site!

80sMum sadly, the reason the police won’t arrest everyone displaying drunk & disorderly behaviour is because within about 10 minutes into the evening the cells would be filled to capacity.

Not to mention that due to cuts instigated by our dear departing prime minister while she was Home Sec; there are often a pitiful amount of police spread across a whole city (or even county) for the evening - they need to prioritise being available for serious assaults over some twat waving a willy around.

And the trains emergency buttons don’t stop the train any more - it enables you to speak to the driver and they will use their judgement whether to stop at the next station.

British Transport Police do have a number to text to report antisocial behaviour on trains - 61016. Again, it depends on resourcing but they might be able to meet the train at the next station or the destination to give them a bollocking.

Sounds horrendous. I feel your pain OP.

I went to Budapest for the weekend, the stag party on the plane weren’t great, there were more in the city, it wasn’t just British either... it’s made me think about where I go away to on a city break

Another vote for York.

My son has an activity in the centre on a weekend and I dread taking him, I wont take my other kids as it's full of screaming, shouting, swearing vomit and pee everywhere. Last week we got stuck in the middle of a fight between two hen parties.

This is Saturday lunchtime

I immediately thought of York too. Visited quite recently after not having been for a few years and was shocked at the amount and behaviour of both stag and hen dos.
York's a gorgeous city but I definitely won't be visiting at the weekend again.

I wish the police could ID offenders and issue fines for this kind of behaviour.

Oh dear OP yanbu. And I don't give a stuff if that makes me judgemental. You are damn right I am going to judge someone screeching with laughter whilst a mate vomits copiously on the pavement whilst others shout about sex and wave plastic willies around. FGS, where is your self-respect??

If enough people complain OP then the council and police will have to do something. Look up reports about Newquay - they are turning it around.

Poor, poor York. I haven’t been for about 5 years and I despair at this thread and how far that lovely city has apparently fallen.

I'm another guessing York, particularly since you mentioned the majority of the hen do's coming from Newcastle.
I was unfortunate enough to live near the Micklegate run (I've since moved to the outskirts) To get into town on a Saturday I would walk down Micklegate and pass women urinating in the street, Men and women both loudly talking about sex and swearing and staggering about and this was by about midday.
I once came home to find a man urinating on my front door, who then gave me a load of abuse when I objected to him doing so- in front of my 8 year old son at only 5pm.
Town is a no go in the evening.
Marauding drunken groups of men and women patrol the streets, vomiting and urinating everywhere and making it into a hell hole.
The alleyways all over York reek of piss. It's fucking vile.
Race days are even worse.
Those of you calling op a snob clearly have no idea what it's like having to live with this in your city.

I think you perhaps could have worded your post a little better - common isn't the right word. It is disrespectful bad behaviour.

YANBU. I don't understand why people think that they can act so badly and have some sort of get out clause because it's hen or a stag do.

I feel for those in those cities that are badly affected.