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Teenage Mocktailers

A non-alcohol-serving pub offers somewhere to go and something to do for teenagers in Burnham-on-Sea.

Current affairs 1980 2 mins

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Overview

The Country Yokel is a pub and a nightclub but its enterprising owner John Bartlett is turning it into a youth club or rather a pubic house run by and for under 18s. The optics offer a range of soft drinks and teenagers mumble their approval to camera. News reporter Mike Whitmarsh takes up the unenviable task of registering teenage enthusiasm onto celluloid for the good folks watching at home. An identity card system helps to discourage gatecrashers and undesirables.

Teenagers are often seen as troublemakers hanging around with nothing to do and not well integrated into life in the community. Governments, local authorities, community leaders and charitable groups agree that young people benefit when they have somewhere to meet, relax and play, be independent and find like-minded people without too much interference from adults. The advent of social media and a more Europeanised outlook where teenagers are not excluded from pubs and bars have enabled a more vibrant and thriving youth culture. Playing hooky, bunking off, mitching, twagging, skipping or skiving school are for the truants among us, nowadays just as likely to be the fault of parents during term-time!