It was called Carnage but these Canterbury students were just out to have a good time

by Alex Claridge

A senior city councillor has criticised the Carnage night which saw 600 students take to Canterbury’s streets.

Nick Eden-Green passed some students in St Margaret’s Street on Tuesday evening of last week and said he was exposed to shouting, drunkenness and swearing.

The students had each paid £10 to be taken to a series of pubs by the Carnage organisers before ending up in the Chill nightclub in St George’s Place.

Licensing officials from the city council monitored the evening but Cllr Eden-Green said: “Why should we all as council tax-payers have to pay for senior council staff and the police to turn out at night to keep order?

“And why are freshers encouraged to drink to excess and scream in the street - or worse - by an organisation that makes money out of promoting mayhem?”

Cllr Eden-Green claims that marshals provided by Carnage, part of the Varsity Leisure Group, were ineffective in controlling the revellers.

It is a criticism shared by the council’s licensing supremo Roger Vick. He told the Kentish Gazette last week that he intends to have a “serious talk” with the Carnage organisers about the handling of the event.

Cllr Eden-Green had been at a Canterbury Festival event at the Cathedral when he passed the Carnage students. He added: “We exited the Cathedral into screaming and swearing.

“One person I came out with said she was not going to any more festival events as she did not feel safe in an atmosphere like this.

“I am not anti-student, but the city does them no favours – nor their bank balances and health – when it hosts an organisation designed to make its money by promoting excess drinking.”

The city council says that monitoring nights such as Carnage does not cost extra money as it falls within the regular work of licensing officers.

Varsity Leisure claims it works with the police and council to ensure its nights run smoothly.