Trouble In Beverley: A Doorman’s Tale

Sunday night saw an angry mob take to the streets of and cause havoc for around 30 minutes.

It is still not clear what sparked off the trouble though it was dealt with by local door staff and police working together and restoring order.

One of the doormen who was involved has shared their account of the night with HU17.net;

“First I heard of it was from Dog and Duck on the pubwatch radio that it was going off big time down Dog and Duck Lane and that Police were needed.”

“Seconds later large groups of kids 10-17 in age ran down Ladygate then Hengate past Beaver and congregated around the lights out of Saturday Market.”

“ Sporadic ‘fights’ started plus lots of shouting, girls trying to pull boyfriends away kind of stuff. “

“There were about 50 “youths” by this point and the melee rolled down to around HSBC I saw Police Officers step in and as they were heavily outnumbered myself and a colleague went to assist along with door staff from other bars in the town centre.”

“There were probably others trying to resolve the situation but I was trying to avoid being blindsided to pay too much attention.”

“We pulled a few people apart and kept people away from the Police car where the two Police Officers were trying to arrest someone.”

“After a few minutes police re-enforcements arrived so we left them to it and returned to our doors.”

“A large gang then congregated at the traffic lights and seemed to organise themselves. I could hear someone ordering people about then they all ran as a group past Beaver and down Hengate with one kid stopping to kick in a window at 22.”

“I followed the commentary on the pubwatch radio and the gang seemed to head round to Tescos.”

“Then I heard messages about them being around Wednesday Market after which the whole thing subsided. Probably lasted about half an hour or so.”

“I understand that the trouble flared between locals and ‘out of towners’ at the fair.”

“I’m not from Beverley but I cannot really see what benefit the fair brings especially on a bank holiday weekend with a double race meeting.”

“I certainly recall it kicking off last year.”

Picture: Above, Ladygate where it went off ‘Big Time’

Picture: Above, Bistro 22 was damaged by one of the crowd who took to the streets



More From HU17.net

This article has 1 Comment

  1. The probability of lawlessness on the Bank Holiday weekend when a fair is allowed to operate in the centre of the town is something that the authorities are well aware of, there have been minor skirmishes between ‘locals’ and-out-of-towners , including military personnel over the years. This is hardly surprising when you know that there is a large end of season race meeting and that the fair is surrounded by public houses.

    Quite apart from the potential violence the venue is totally unsuitable for a number of other reasons. When the fair was last held on The Market Place, prior to 2003, that is in 1959 it was considered by the council that the centre of town was not suitable for this purpose and the organizers were asked to try a different site. The fair moved to Morton Lane Car Park and was successful there for many years until ERYC sold the site. The fair has a charter allowing it to be held “within the walls of Beverley” and was allowed to move back to the Market Place. Since 1959 many things had changed: pubs were now allowed to open longer hours, Dyer Lane had been blocked to emergency vehicles, Toll Gavel was now pedestrianized, the amount of traffic had increased enormously and the size of delivery vehicles was now such that they found it impossible to make normal deliveries to some of the shops. The town centre car park had to be closed for the event so that ladies wishing to visit the high quality shops that pay a lot of money in business rates, had to park elsewhere and wend their way through or around the hot-dog stalls and bumper-cars, someone with a business wishing to pay the takings into their bank had to walk from a distant car park with the takings.
    All this may have been acceptable if the fair had brought an influx of business into the town but it proved to be the opposite. Most shop’s takings are down that week, the guests in residential hotels next to the Market are unlikely to spend another holiday here are and the majority of local people regard it as an eyesore and a cheapening of the town.
    I quote from a newspaper report in June 2003: “A spokesperson for East Riding Council said the fair organisers wanted to maintain their long-standing presence in the town. The event was being held on Saturday Market on a one year trial basis (my bold) and Beverley Town Council and the Chamber of Trade had been consulted”
    Eight years later and I have not known an objection to the fair raised by: the Fire Service, the Police or the Chamber of Trade.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *