Messing About On The River

By Rob Last edited 229 months ago
Messing About On The River
diamondwhite.jpg

One of our first ever posts on Londonist was a piece about street drinkers in Islington and the fact that Islington council was busy installing specially constructed benches for their local alcoholic contingent.

Now it seems that Twickenham is set to follow suit with Richmond upon Thames Council's attempts to "permanently resolve" the problem of drinkers on the Embankment.

The local papers report that a "a groundbreaking meeting" was held last week where street drinkers spoke to residents, the police, the Council and homeless charity Spear.

A resident of Eel Pie Island (God, how we would love to have an address at Eel Pie Island!) is quoted as saying "I was happy that the meeting took place but now everyone has gone away to review resources and the day after we still see them urinating on the Embankment."

A good point well made, we'll think you'll agree. In fact the main sticking point seems to be that, while Richmond is free to simply turf street drinkers out, Twickenham seems intent on providing a more "permanent solution to the problem".

To this end, homeless charity Spear " are currently working on behalf of the council to investigate what the street drinkers are doing in a bid to find the best solution."

Could we suggest that the clue to what street drinkers are doing might lie in their name? We'd be surprised if research revealed that copious amount of Diamond White were being consumed to celebrate the victor of a chess tournament, or as refreshment after a particularly vigorous game of Twister.

Last Updated 04 February 2005