Shaping Health and Communities through research - inaugural conference for new Institute

New findings on the links between drinking in the home ahead of a night out, and violent crime, are set to be presented at the inaugural conference of a multi-disciplinary research institute at Plymouth University. The development of a culture of ‘pre-loading’, where drinkers consume alcohol before entering the ‘night time economy’, and the implications it will have for the forthcoming government strategy to tackle binge drinking, will be discussed at the public launch event for the Institute for Health and Community. The new body will bring together researchers from across the spectrum of health and social care, and culture and society, with specialisms in fields such as travel and tourism; globalisation; ageing and rural issues; nanotechnologies and dietetics, and innovative methodologies. Adrian Barton, of the Plymouth Business School, will be taking to the stage to reveal how the crackdown on cheap drinks in licensed premises has helped to create a new model of home-pub-club drinking, which in turn has contributed to the rise in alcohol-related crime and disorder. Working with Devon and Cornwall Police over the course of six months, the team surveyed nearly 600 people who had been arrested, and for the first time, investigated the pattern of drinking in the hours before their detention. Two-thirds of the ees aged 17-30 had been drinking in domestic premises before moving into the town, with the majority reporting that they were already drunk by the time they reached it.