Have fun and stay safe in Hackney over the festive season
Hackney Council has teamed up with Drinkaware and the Metropolitan Police to encourage local residents and visitors to stay safe in Hackney over the festive season.
The Council, Drinkaware and the Police are launching safety messaging on posters and social media urging party-goers to please drink responsibly, look after one another and their belongings, don’t urinate in the street, keep the noise down and plan their journeys home in advance.
The messaging sits under the Council’s new night time safety charter, Hackney Nights, which encompasses all things safety-related in the night time economy - including night-time safety campaigns and training for venues.
Venues who sign up to Hackney Nights, which launched on 20 November at the Council’s boroughwide pubwatch, will receive training on a range of safety-related issues including vulnerability, sexual harassment, managing conflicts, substance misuse, age verification. Off licenses will also receive tailored training sessions.
The first wave of training to take place will be provided by Good Night Out, an independent initiative that works to tackle sexual harassment in night time spaces. This training is part of the second phase of the Council’s “Reframe the Night” campaign, led in collaboration with City of London Corporation and Good Night Out. The campaign’s messaging, which was developed by Good Night Out, aims to tackle the damaging culture of victim-blaming and put the onus back on the harasser.
All activities under Hackney Nights will be funded by the Council’s Late Night Levy. The Levy is funded by local late night venues in the borough and aims to support them with extra policing and training to help the boroughs’ nightlives continue to thrive.
Here are our top tips to have a good night out
Before you head out:
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Plan your route home
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Check out night tube routes
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Charge your phone
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Put licensed taxi numbers in your phone
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Text ‘HOME’ to 60835 for a list of licensed minicabs in your area
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Download TFL’s Cabwise app for a list of local licensed minicabs
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View further information about travelling home safetly
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Make sure you’ve eaten and are not drinking on an empty stomach
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Know where you are headed, and if a new area or venue do a quick web check & let someone know
During your night out:
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Stay with your group
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Keep your belongings and drinks with you at all times
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Drink responsibly - know your limits, drink lots of water between alcoholic drinks & maybe, order food if you haven’t eaten, pace yourself
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Be considerate of people who live in nearby areas - keep the noise down
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Have fun but play safely!
Our borough is home to world-class venues and a thriving nightlife, and we’re sure that everyone is looking forward to enjoying celebrating over the Christmas season. We’re working with venues and partners throughout the festive season and beyond to ensure that we continue to strike a balance between a prosperous night time economy and ensuring quality of life for our residents.
Our Late Night Levy is helping us to make Hackney safer through our newly launched night time safety charter, Hackney Nights, and additional police presence on the streets. By supporting our venues with specialised training and launching public-awareness campaigns to drive positive behaviour change around night time safety, whilst all the while having a robust council and police presence on the ground, we can create a safer night time economy for all. We hope that everyone who celebrates Christmas and New Year’s in Hackney does so responsibly and safely.
We are supporting Hackney Council to help keep Hackney safe during the busy festive period and beyond. Hackney will no doubt be busy during this season, and we will be out on the ground ensuring that local residents and people who are out are safe from anti-social behaviour and crime. We advise people to drink responsibly, be respectful of neighbours who are trying to sleep, and to stay with their groups on nights out.
Many people look forward to the festive season so that they can unwind and switch-off from work and other commitments. There’s no harm in having a few drinks - but drinking to excess reduces inhibitions and can leave people in a vulnerable state. That’s why it’s important that you are aware of your limits, and that you stay with your group throughout the night.
We’ve teamed up with Hackney Council and the Met Police to ensure that people who will be heading to venues, clubs and bars in the borough’s popular night time economy are aware of drinking responsibly and having fun without overdoing it.