'Boozed-up day-trippers are turning our idyllic Lancashire village into Blackpool with vomit in the street and urinate in gardens'

Anger is brewing in an idyllic village as locals fear it is being taken over by rowdy revellers who damage property, vomit in the street and urinate in gardens.

Residents of picturesque Whalley, in Lancashire's stunning Ribble Valley, say their streets are carpeted in sick by drunken partygoers who sniff drugs off their bins and have sex in public. Loud music is said to shake houses until the early hours, and one local was even assaulted by a horde of horny women, who bring inflatable penises on hen dos.

Revellers are coming from as far away as Preston, Blackpool and Manchester, locals say. And they worry the village - famed for its 728-year-old Cistercian Abbey - is suffering from ‘Blackpool-isation’, with incomers turning it into a ‘Wild West’ at weekends.

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Lancashire Police said it was working with Ribble Valley Council and residents to find a solution. But locals say when they speak out about the “absolute havoc” they witness, they have suffered threats and intimidation by local “booze bullies”.

One homeowner, who was so terrified of reprisals that she refused to be named, said: “What is foremost in our thoughts is our beautiful village is being irreparably spoiled. I’ve seen people snorting drugs off bin lids. I’ve seen women squatting in the alley going for a wee. I’ve had people in my garden going for a wee.

“What we’re upset about is this ‘Blackpool-isation’ of Whalley. There’s nothing wrong with Blackpool, but not when you’re in Whalley and not when you’ve got the Cistercian Abbey.

“Whalley from Monday to Thursday is the beautiful village we all know… But there’s absolutely a transformation that takes place over the weekend.”

A cocktail bar called The Aviary in Queen Street, located at the end of a line of terraced homes, is said to attract many late night revellers. It is open later than the other pubs in the village, and families say they're kept awake at night by thumping music from the venue, which pulses through their stone-built properties until around 1.30am on weekends.

They say revellers have scuffled in the street and left the area strewn with broken glass, prompting police and ambulances to descend on the usually peaceful area. But residents feel bottomless drinking events aimed at women - featuring topless male performers - have further ruined the village’s tranquil atmosphere.

Dad of two Mark, who declined to give his surname, said he had been knocked over by a posse of boozed-up female day-trippers attending one such event.

He said: “I was walking back from the Co-op and in the other direction came a group of about four or five 30-40-year-old women, who were staggering, or struggling to stay up, on high heels. When they got level with me, one of them just pushed me, on my shoulder, into the road.

"I’m not as old as some of the residents in Whalley, I’m quite nimble, and I take a lot to be pushed over. But that was how I personally felt it. It could have been very dangerous because the road that I’m talking about is a very well-travelled road – it’s usually very busy.

“With the bottomless brunches and the strippers and things, you get lots of women carrying inflatable penises and inflatable sex dolls and stuff like that. On a Saturday afternoon, it’s not the sort of thing that you would want your children to see in the street and listen to that sort of language."

Another furious resident agreed, adding: “It’s not something we want to become the culture and the norm.” The Aviary opened in 2021 after pandemic restrictions were lifted in a building that formerly housed the local Conservative club.

However, locals said the late-night opening hours had forced them to wear earplugs and take sleeping pills in an attempt to get some rest. Mark added: “The houses on the street are kind of like stone cottage-type houses, and they’re quite well built.

“But the base beat from the music, you can hear in every room of the house. And it’s a very definite ‘boom, boom, boom’, and it lasts for several hours.

“I have to get up at 5am or 6am to go to work sometimes at weekends, I take sleeping pills and I wear ear plugs, and you can still hear it over the top of everything.”

Mark said he and other residents had originally approached the venue in a ‘light-hearted’ way about the music’s volume but had been met with resistance. He said: “It's met with so much abuse and confrontation, and that’s why people are actually scared.”

The venue is now subject to a noise abatement notice, which is under appeal.

Mark Hindle, Conservative Ribble Valley Borough Councillor for Whalley & Painter Wood, said the village had suffered from late-night antisocial behaviour. He said: “Whalley is a beautiful little village – it’s like a Cotswold village, with stone houses and pubs.

"It’s quite a sedate place, and the population is quite old in terms of the demographic. But there is late-night antisocial behaviour, people going in bars – people who have been in bars all day.

“They do come out and they suffer from the after-effects of alcohol – vomiting on pavements is quite common. There are reports of untoward activity. If you look at the police figures, there are reports of serious affrays and sexual incidents as well associated with the nighttime economy.”

At a recent council meeting, Mr Hindle said he had heard from residents of drinkers having ‘sex down the alleys’ and sniffing ‘cocaine of car bonnets’.

He added: “It’s not something I’ve actually observed, but it’s all part of this drug culture – late night environment, people’s bad behaviour. I’ve had it reported to me by people who live out and about in the residential areas.”

Conservative county councillor for Ribble Valley North East, Ged Mirfin, said the area's relative wealth meant that drugs were easy to afford for many party-goers. He said: “If you talk to the police, Whalley is a very affluent place, and there is quite a high incidence of cannabis, ketamine and cocaine use. For very affluent individuals, with reasonable levels of disposable income, drugs are cheap.

“There are certain establishments in the nighttime that are effectively rogue and really haven’t been following their licensing agreements. That isn’t the case with all of them, and it’s a very small minority that are causing the problems.”

Edward Marsh, who co-owns the Salvage House bar in Whalley, said local establishments had put on more live events after suffering during the pandemic. He said: “People tend to put on more live music because they can’t get that at home. That creates more noise than would otherwise be.

“But it’s hard getting people out of their back gardens and to come out. They just don’t come out in the same numbers as they used to because of the financial constraints.

“Because of rising overheads, staff costs and stock prices, if you’re as busy as you were ten years ago, you’d either not be making money or you wouldn’t be making as much.

“The residents are saying ‘We don’t want you to get busy’. Well, they’re all going to close eventually if they can’t keep some sort of buoyancy in the nighttime economy.”

A Ribble Valley Borough Council spokesperson said: “We understand residents’ concerns and take them seriously. Anti-social behaviour can arise from a variety of sources, not just licensed premises.

“And Whalley licensees are working closely with us to identify and remedy alleged problems. The police carry out unannounced visits to licensed premises, with our licensing enforcement staff, and have so far not sought to review the licence of a single licensed premises in the village.

“The council issues licences in accordance with Government legislation and guidance. We would advise anyone witnessing anti-social behaviour to report it to the police.”

A Lancashire Constabulary spokesperson added: “Whalley is a fantastic place to live, work and visit and we work proactively with partner agencies to ensure that remains the case. Like with all places which have a thriving night time economy, there are occasional issues which require police or local authority intervention.

“However, via regular dialogue with our communities and key stakeholders and targeted policing, thankfully these incidents remain small in number.”

The Aviary has been contacted for comment.