This month, Fran Dainty, our Regional Adviser for the North West of England, and now, North Wales, writes about our recent event in Prestatyn, on Thursday 22 January 2026, to highlight the importance of tackling underage drinking head on in North Wales.

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The weather might have been cold and windy in at the Beaches Hotel in Prestatyn last week, but the welcome at our first North Wales CAP event was nothing but warm, enthusiastic and inviting. Over 45 CAP partners formed a diverse audience with representatives from the North Wales Police and Crime Commissioner’s Office, Wrexham University, Wrexham Borough Council, Barnardos Cymru, Trading Standards, The Wallich and local police teams. Discussions focused on the challenges of underage drinking for young people in North Wales communities and the opportunities for local Community Alcohol Partnerships(CAPs) to add value and additional support to the fantastic work already in place.

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Dr Hayley Trowbridge, from SPARK Cardiff University, set the scene perfectly with an inspiring keynote speech detailing the CAP funded research around alternative activities to drinking alcohol in the night-time economy in Cardiff. This was followed by a thought-provoking panel discussion with Phil Collins, the Head teacher at Rhyl High School, Martin Bewick, Specialist ASB Liaison Officer, Cwm Taf Youth Justice Service and Aaron Haggas, Police Licensing Officer, Conwy & Denbighshire. Chaired by Derek Lewis, Chair of CAP, themes such as the importance of developing trusted relationships with young people, the impact of mentoring and the need for youth-led positive activities that meet individual needs were passionately spoken about. A highlight of the event was hearing directly from students and teachers from Greenhill School, Tenby, on the positive impact of CAP support. They spoke eloquently about the work that they have done as part of the CAP that is active in Tenby.

Both myself and our CAP Adviser for South Wales, Matthew Knight, shared an array of examples of CAP’s impact from its three key pillars of Education, Enforcement and Enrichment and their associated activities. We highlighted the impact this has had on communities across the UK, such as using sports heroes as influencers, storyboarding virtual reality workshops with content designers and how the cumulative messaging from partnerships can really impact parents and carers when considering buying alcohol for under 18s.

The buzz in the room was evident when the discussion was thrown back into the hands of the audience: to identify current areas of good practice in alcohol education and to identify the gaps in provision and what opportunities there would be for CAP support. Discussions carried on into the networking lunch with next steps identified.

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The enthusiasm and interest from CAP partners had really come through in all the discussions we had. There is a real desire to action the great ideas that have been shared, so the logical next step will be to identify the communities most in need, which would likely be Rhyl and Wrexham. I am genuinely excited to carry on our discussions and star tour support without delay in 2026.

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