Amsterdam may ban stag parties

First Dublin and now Amsterdam. It seems no one wants British men celebrating stag nights in their fair city.

In the latest move to shun drunken antics, public cavorting and violence, the Dutch city has joined a growing list of destinations wanting to ban the Brits.

Amsterdam has always been a popular destination for the British wanting to celebrate their last days of singledom in a blur of cheap alcohol. Simple and cheap to get to, it has Europe's most famous redlight district which draws hordes to its alleyways. Licensing laws allow drinking until the small hours, and cannabis is openly smoked. The city's brothels often attract an inebriated groom-to-be.

But if Amsterdam's Inner City council has its way, those last days of freedom would be spent in a jail cell. Anne Lize van der Stoel, chairwoman of the council, has bowed to years of appeals from locals and proposed new laws to ban the often chaotic, noisy and sometimes violent all-night raves.

She has specifically named British men on "bachelor parties" as causing most of the problems and has vowed to have them in jail until they miss their flights home.

Council spokeswoman Anja van Os said residents had had enough. "We have had a lot of complaints," she said. "Bachelors' parties have been part of the problem."

In 1998 34 pubs and hotels in Dublin banned British stag parties. Tourist authorities there estimated rampages by drunken British men through the Temple Bar area were costing as much as £57 million a year in lost revenue. A number of clubs and pubs in London and Dublin are also refusing hen nights, believing women outdo men with "ladette" behaviour and binge drinking.

Today Ms van Os said the proposal, to give police more powers to break up large groups of revellers, is now before Amsterdam Mayor Job Cohen. A spokeswoman for Mr Cohen agreed some British visitors were a problem. "People in the area say, 'All these British people want to do is drink for a weekend and make a lot of noise,'" she said.

Amsterdam has become increasingly popular with regular flights from Luton, Gatwick and Heathrow, with return fares starting at under £100 including taxes. Ferries from Harwich to Hoek van Holland cost from only £7 each way.

A spokesman for the British Embassy in the Netherlands said the issue needed to be kept in perspective. "Some fall into the canals and others urinate against the walls but a majority of guys are well behaved," he said.

"There is a depth of feeling in Amsterdam that some British are a pain in the backside but I'm sure many bars and brothels are only too pleased to see the British on a stag weekend."