Youth hostels in Sussex given 24-hour booze licences

4:11pm Monday 7th January 2008

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Youth hostels in Sussex are being transformed into hostelries after authorities granted 24-hour licences to sell alcohol.

It means backpackers will be able to enjoy a drink or throw parties any time of the day in four of the county's hostels.

Hostels which were granted the licences include those at Warningcamp, near Arundel, Alfriston, Littlehampton and Truleigh Hill, near Shoreham.

The Youth Hostel Association is awaiting the decision regarding another hostel at Telscombe.

The move has raised concerns among residents who fear it will spark booze-fuelled crime and shatter the peaceful surroundings.

In rural Warningcamp, in an area of outstanding natural beauty, the application attracted at least 12 letters of objection.

One opponent said the application went against public concern for the adverse consequences to health and public order.

Another wrote that it would encourage binge drinking by young people.

Therese Butler, who keeps horses near the hostel, feared that 24-hour licences to sell alcohol would attract loud and drunken parties that may spill out of the hostel and cause trouble locally.

She said: "My horses have been victim to joyriders in the past elsewhere with disastrous consequences. I therefore feel very concerned that they could be exposed to any such threat again."

Another opponent commented simply: "This is Warningcamp, not Ibiza."

The move in Sussex forms part of a national campaign to license 118 of the Youth Hostel Association's venues in the country, which offer on-site meals. So far only one application, in the Peak District, has been rejected.

Some 59 hostels, including the one at Warningcamp, had existing 24-hour licences to sell alcohol which were due for renewal when the latest application was submitted last year.

The plan was to introduce greater controls on drinking on the premises. Prior to the changes, many hostels allowed guests to buy in their own alcoholic beverages.

Youth Hostel Association spokesman Paul Fearn said: "We have no intention of serving alcohol 24-hours a day. It's just not viable. What we want to do is change the way hostels operate.

"All venues with a licence serve meals on the premises and we state that alcohol must be consumed on the premises.

"We're in the business of offering people the most pleasant experience possible and if guests want to drink we want to make that possible."

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