Major city sees 'surge in youth violence' linked to caffienated alcoholic drink
A major city centre faced an "unprecedented surge in youth violence" due to drinking a caffeinated alcoholic drink called Dragon Soop.
Gangs of youngsters have been congregating at popular locations across the city centre to drink alcohol and commit "serious assaults." Northumbria Police documents, lodged with the city council, show the spike in incidents during 2023 were linked to youths obtaining Dragon Soop – a caffeinated alcoholic drink with an ABV of 7.5%
The warnings were made as councillors debated on Tuesday whether to allow a convenience store in the city centre to sell alcohol. A report from Sgt Emma Dixon, as part of a police objection to News Express’ licence bid, detailed police operations carried out during school holidays throughout 2023 to "target an unprecedented surge in youth violence which police believed was a direct result of underage alcohol consumption and misuse of drugs."
Operation Magnolia discovered young people buying Dragon Soop from off-licenses or using adults to buy it for them. Sgt Dixon said: "Their behaviour would deteriorate during the evening as they became more intoxicated and more violent incidents were reported by members of the public."
She confirmed there were “several arrests of young people for serious assaults on members of the public” in the city centre last spring and that “all were drunk at the time and could not remember what they had done until they were shown the CCTV”, though Sgt Dixon added that the operation “has had a positive impact” and resulted in a reduction in anti-social behaviour.
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Jonathan Rodger, representing News Express at a hearing of Newcastle City Council’s licensing sub-committee on Tuesday morning, argued that his client’s shop selling alcohol would have little impact on the drinking problems already experienced around the Bigg Market area.
He said the store’s “exceptionally narrow” request was to sell only wine and spirits between noon and 8pm – with a promise of minimum prices of £10 for a bottle of wine and £15 for spirits, all alcohol being concealed behind the shop’s counter, and customers only being allowed to purchase it with at least £5 of other items excluding cigarettes and vapes, Chronicle Live reported.
Mr Rodger added: "Very limited product range, not only avoiding the problematic drinks but focusing on the high-quality, low-volume, high-margin. Only wines and spirits with a minimum price and minimum volume, avoiding entirely the youth and street drinking market. It is fanciful to think that, under these conditions, my client is going to be a supplier to beggars, addicts, and troublemakers."
A man who runs the nearby Metro Express, Neeraj Bedi, told the committee of problems with knife crime, anti-social behaviour, and homelessness. Mr Bedi also admitted that he did sell Dragon Soop at his store, but said he would take it off his shelves if the police asked him to. A decision on News Express’ licensing application is due to be made in the next five working days.
He added: “I care about this area and I can see it is progressively getting worse. It is not nice when people come into the area and say it is the Wild West and they are scared to even come into the shop… people hastling them and children telling them to buy alcohol for them, or they are being abused and intimidated.”
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