Our charming town turns into UK's Ayia Napa this week… the hooray drunks always end up brawling or bonking

The Irish Sun

03-07-2025

SWAYING from side to side while clutching a pair of high heels, a drunken reveller stops outside a solicitor's office, hikes up her dress and brazenly relieves herself in its doorway.
Nearby a group of sunburnt blokes dressed in stripey blazers polish off an enormous bottle of champagne before mindlessly discarding it, sending shards of shattered glass flying across the pavement.
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Champagne fuelled picnickers slumped along the riverbank
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Thames Valley Police draft in extra cops during Regatta Week to keep the peace
Credit: Sonja Horsman
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Resident Gary Waite says people get so drunk they smash beer and champagne bottles on the ground as soon as they get off the train at Henley
Credit: Sonja Horsman
This is Henley Regatta, the most prestigious event on the rowing calendar, held on the river banks of the upmarket Oxfordshire town for a week every year in July.
But such is the carnage that often ensues, largely thanks to an event schedule which kicks off around 9am and goes on into the night, fed up locals now dub the event 'Ayia Rower', after the notorious party resort
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Terrified pub landlords and shop owners hire their own security guards to protect their premises from the rampaging hordes and their rowdy drunken antics - which have been known to include brawling, vandalism and shoplifting.
While the smartly dressed visitors in their designer outfits and Panama hats certainly look like they should know better, locals say it's not unusual to see men urinating into the river and inebriated revellers passed out on the grass at the end of each day.
In years gone by police have even set up a mobile prisons to hold drunk and disorderly guests, those caught taking drugs or disturbing the peace, until they sober up.
Henley resident Gary Waite has lived in the town for 25 years and says he's seen it all.
He told The Sun: 'There is no recession when it comes to the Regatta.
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"The trains disgorge hundreds of people in stripy blazers. I've seen them swigging from massive jeroboams of champagne - the equivalent of four bottles.
"The car parks are full of Rolls Royces.
"Another issue is broken glass everywhere. People are so drunk they smash beer and champagne bottles on the ground as soon as they get off the train, and our dogs walk in the broken glass."
Punter at Henley Regatta kneed seven times in the face as cops arrest him
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Jackie Fullalove with husband Mick and their dogs Bingo and Betty
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Revellers were feeling the effect of daytime drinking during the heatwave
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Many of the bars and marquees hire their own private security guards to keep the peace
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Others living near the town centre told us they have endured revellers brazenly taking drugs and brawling on the street.
And locals have previously told of over-amorous, boozy couples having sex.
When we visited on the first morning of the event, retired resident Jackie Fullalove said she'd already witnessed an ugly brawl.
'I just saw a ruckus between two young ladies with empty glasses over lunch - they're hot and bothered and fighting already so it's going to be very messy by the end of the day. The whole event is barking mad," she said.
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"We've heard about people using doorways as toilets. It's gruesome."
A road sweeper, who did not wish to be named, added: "The girls are far worse than the fellas.
"They've been to all the best schools but nobody has taught them how to use a dustbin, never mind a toilet."
Mindless vandalism
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Spectators decked out in their distinctive club colours
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Cops on patrol at Henley
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Of course the veneer of the Royal Regatta is highly respectable glossy and glamorous.
It is known as the most prestigious rowing event in the world, but in reality extra police officers are needed to patrol the narrow streets.
Every half an hour during Regatta Week around 1,500 people spill off trains from London to the famous festival.
The usual population of Henley is less than 12,200, but over the six days of racing the sedate town is overwhelmed by a staggering 300,000 visitors.
We watched as noisy crowds poured into the rows of swanky marquees lining the riverbanks, where plush hospitality enclosures serve up 25,000 pints of Pimm's and more than 5,500 bottles of champagne.
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They've been to all the best schools but nobody has taught them how to use a dustbin, never mind a toilet
Henley local
The formal dress code is so strict that men must wear jackets and ties, and smart summer dresses must fall below the knee - it was only three years ago that women were permitted to wear trousers.
Lavish floral displays, Union Jack flags and colourful bunting line the pretty streets, which are usually so immaculately kept that boutique owners have even been spotted vacuuming the pavement outside their shops.
One local businesswoman said she had become infuriated by mindless acts of vandalism she' s noticed become more prevalent in recent years.
Jan Smith, from The Henley Florist, said: 'Not only do our deliveries take much longer because of the much greater volume of traffic but expensive floral shop displays get pulled down and stolen.
"They have to be replaced. It's a shame."
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The increased traffic flow also causes a headache for British Airways cabin crew worker Elizabeth Johnson, 70, who has lived in Henley for more than two decades but still gets frustrated during the annual Regatta.
She said: 'Town gets busier and busier as the week goes on.
"Because of all the hoorays coming from London they change the frequency of the traffic lights to control the queues which makes it incredibly difficult to get in and out of town.
"When I finish a shift I might have been awake for 24 hours and my journey home from Heathrow Airport which usually takes 45 minutes can take over two hours.
'I'm so exhausted by then it's dangerous to be driving."
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After dark
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Drunken revellers cool off in the river
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Punters took a breather before a night on the town
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Cops keep an eye out as the marquees empty each evening
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The Catherine Wheel on Hart Street pub hires doormen during Regatta Week
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Visitors from as far as America, Australia and New Zealand had splashed out on high price tickets to feast on lavishly catered picnics, while scores of spectators in high spirits took to dinghies, old fashioned paddle boats and launches laden with beer, wine and champagne to cheer on their favourite crews.
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Many looked worse for wear by lunchtime, and by mid afternoon all pretence of watching the rowing had vanished.
Come the evening the remains of high end picnics were packed away into wicker hampers, the marquees emptied and crowds of well spoken partygoers staggered across the narrow bridge into the centre of town.
Crowds squeezed up Hart Street to The Catherine Wheel - a Weatherspoon's boozer and Henley's largest pub.
The closest pub to the race course is The Angel on the Bridge, an historic institution that dates back to 1728.
Disgusted neighbours have endured more unsavoury shenanigans there after dark - including women going to extreme lengths to dodge lengthy toilet queues by nipping out of the boozer and urinating in the doorway of the solicitor's office opposite instead.
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In years gone by scenes have turned really ugly.
In 2017 locals were aghast when three men were arrested at the Regatta on suspicion of gang raping a woman in her twenties.
Cops released CCTV images as part of their investigation after a woman claimed she was attacked as she left the exclusive Chinawhite enclosure.
The previous year cops were caught on camera kneeing a punter in the face seven times before knocking him out and arresting him on drunk and disorderly charges.
Horrified witnesses watched as Gil Morgan was restrained in front of a crowd, although the charges were later dropped after he lodged a complaint.
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Business boost
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Cocktail club manager Livia sees profits soar during Regatta Week
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Martin Saxon and Liam Johnson admit they don't come to the Regatta for the rowing
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A pair of patriotic visitors take up their spot on the riverbank
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This year the event, which was established in 1839, will host more than 4,000 athletes competing from 19 nations in 400 races across six days of elite competition.
Some locals welcome the festival, attended by royalty and celebrities, and the cheerful atmosphere it brings and dismiss the drunken behaviour as part of the fun.
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Henley's branch of Coppa Club is among the businesses which enjoy a huge boost from customers coming from all over the world.
The cocktail bar on Bell Street, where a bottle of champagne is £80 and cocktails are £11.50 each, was doing a roaring trade at lunchtime.
It is fully booked for champagne brunches, afternoon teas and dinner all week.
Manager Livia Viveirous, 52, revealed they rake in more than £5,000 a night during the wild week, more than at any other time of the year.
She told us: 'Every single business is full, full, full. The amount we make this week will see us through the summer, we make at least two and a half times what we make on a usual week.
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The amount we make this week will see us through the summer, we make at least two and a half times what we make on a usual week
Livia Viveirous, bar manager
"Everyone is in a good mood, getting merry.'
Pals Martin Saxon, 48, and Liam Johnson, 42, were among those spectating who cheerfully admitted they have little interest in the sport itself.
"People who haven't been to Henley before think of it as very genteel, but the reality is completely different," said Martin, a tree surgeon from Poole in Dorset.
'I come with my mates and we park up in our campervan for a party.
"The racing is finished by late afternoon and everyone heads into the town centre" added Martin. "It's all going on.
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'The pubs are where the real party is, not by the river,' Liam agreed. 'When the weather is this good, why wouldn't you?"
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Races are over by late afternoon but raving continues until the early hours
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Even the car parks were packed with boozers
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Temperatures topped 30 degrees in Henley earlier this week
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Female racegoers cop an eyeful of the rowers
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The Sun's Nadia Cohen at the Henley Regatta
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