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YHA have announced that 23 of their hostels have been accredited under the Red Tractor scheme, ensuring that the raw meat they use in their catering is 100% British produce.

The tractor mark also offers an assurance that farmers meet high standards of food safety and hygiene, animal welfare and environmental protection when producing the meat.

Membership of the scheme allows YHA to further its charitable objective – encouraging greater knowledge, love and care of the countryside by eating its products! It also serves the environmental aim of reducing food miles.

The one exception to the all-British plan is bacon, where the cheapness and availability of Danish supplies makes it hard to replace with British alternatives. However, this may change in the future. It’s also hoped that more hostels will be added to the scheme.

SYHA are reporting on their news page* that six of their hostels are now licensed to sell alcohol:

A number of our youth hostels now have alcohol licences, so you can buy a glass of wine or a beer to enjoy in the hostel in the evening.  Look out for the wine glass symbol on the relevant hostel pages – so far Edinburgh Central, Glasgow, Corrour Station House, Stirling, Crianlarich and Rowardennan Lodge hostels all have licences.  We are hoping to get alcohol licences for more of our hostels in the future, so you don’t have to bring drinks with you, but can still relax with a drink or two at the end of the day.

That last sentence raises the question “will hostellers still be allowed to bring their own drinks to licensed hostels?”. The rules are against this south of the border, and very unpopular rules they are too – as discussed before on the pages of this site.

I’ve written to SYHA for clarification on this matter, but a thumb through their Terms & Conditions brings some cause for optimism though (emphasis mine):

In licensed hostels beer, cider and wine purchased in the hostel are permitted within designated areas within the hostels as per the licensing laws in Scotland. The consumption of alcohol not purchased in the hostel is only permitted in the self catering dining rooms together with a meal at the discretion of the hostel manager. Guests are requested to consider the collective needs and comfort of others in the hostel (see Code of Conduct, section 1.3.5 below). Under Section 68 of The 1976 Licensing (Scotland) Act it is an offence for any person under 18 to buy or attempt to buy alcohol or consume alcohol. It is also an offence to buy alcohol for consumption by a person under 18.

Anyhow, I’m off to Scotland for some alcohol-fuelled hostelling…

* I’m not sure how new this actually is, but if they consider it “News”, so can I!

Last month the Board of Trustees decided to switch a further nine hostels from compulsory bed and breakfast to normal operation, as reported in Karl’s latest blog post.

This move will be welcomed by hostellers who have special dietary needs, need to get away early in the morning, or just prefer to skip breakfast in the morning. It should also be good news for people of limited means, for whom the cost saving of not having to pay for a breakfast could be significant.

Or so you would think, but when I asked YHA Assistant Treasurer Helen Maurice-Jones whether prices would be brought down in line with a return to self catering, the best she could offer was: “We’re looking at that”. No commitment has been made to any price reduction as a result of this decision.

The removal of compulsory B&B is described as a “trial” rather than a decisive change in policy. If prices aren’t changed, it’ll just be a trial of whether YHA can squeeze an extra fiver a night out of people without delivering anything extra for the money.

Surely YHA aren’t going to turn a popular decision into a massive own goal?

No, it’s not a reprise of the old 24-hour drinks license story, but the fears of some of the inhabitants of Easdale, faced by the prospect of a youth hostel opening on their island.

According to a story in the Press & Journal, there are plans afoot to open a 30-bed hostel on the mile-long island of Easdale, the smallest inhabited island in the Inner Hebrides (though not a SYHA hostel, as far as I can tell). The island has some B&Bs and holiday cottages, but nowhere else for visitors to stay if, for example, they want to take part in the World Stone Skimming Championships.

The plan has been welcomed by local businesses, but not by residents like Tina Jordan who believe it would undermine the business of existing holiday cottages and cause noise nuisance through “alcohol-fuelled activity”.

I can’t say I’ve found hostels to be hotbeds of alcohol-crazed rowdiness. After a day out on the hills, most of us don’t have the energy even if we had the inclination. Could it be that what Ms Jordan is really afraid of is – crivens! – poor people.

If everyone on the island is as welcoming as she is, I’m not sure I want to go there anyway.

Chris Darmon mentioned it at the Groups Conference, and now Karl’s confirmed it on the YHA forum, the compulsory bed and breakfast policy in force at many popular hostels is being reviewed. Some hostels will have to remain B&B (because they don’t have members kitchens), but others may return to the old book-it-if-you-want-it system.

Personally, I’d be glad to see the back of this policy. Hostels are supposed to be catering (no pun intended) to people on a budget. Charging them an extra three or four quid for a breakfast that they could make themselves for much less does not fit in with this ethos. Furthermore, if you need to make an early start, or you have special dietary requirements, the breakfast you have to pay for may be of no use to you.

That’s not to say hostel breakfasts aren’t any good – I’ve had some excellent ones, but customers should have the choice of whether to buy one, or to make one (or even to skip one if they fancy a little extra time in bed or on the hill).

I also hope that any decision is applied even-handedly, to groups as well as to individuals. If it’s OK for a dozen individual members to make their own breakfasts, it should be OK for a dozen individuals who happen to be members of a YHA group. I know my own group has not been able to stay at some hostels because we’re not willing to abandon self catering.

The furore surrounding YHA’s application for 24-hour drinks licences for 118 of its hostels has persisted into the new year. Last week stories appeared in The Guardian, The Times and on BBC News, together with a somewhat tongue-in-cheek leader in The Independent. Whilst the nationals have generally passed on message about YHA not actually wanting to set up 24-hour drinking dens, local papers have been less measured:

• Youth Hostels in Sussex given 24-hour Booze Licences
• 24-hour drinking at the last bastion of clean-living
• Hostel Licence Must be Fought

YHA have, at least, published a press release about its licensing plans. Curiously, it was issued the day after I posted my previous article on the subject on this website. I don’t think the two facts are related!

A short report in Thursday’s Guardian appears to be the first appearance in the national press of an issue that been showing up in local papers up and down the country. YHA’s application for 24-hour drink and entertainment licences for many of its hostels has made the news in…

• Alfriston
• Cambridge
• Cockermouth
• St Briavels
• Newcastle
• Saffron Walden

All have made some effort to obtain and express the YHA’s side of the story, but I suspect many readers will still be getting the wrong impression of the Association. Unfortunately, the YHA appears to operate a “good news only” policy on it’s news and press web pages – stories which aren’t 100% positive are left to third parties to explain, with whatever inaccuracies and distortions they introduce. So, in the absence of anything from Matlock, I’m going add to the ranks of those third parties (remember this is NOT an official YHA site) and give the story as I understand it, largely based on a briefing given to Central Regional Council last weekend.

Continue reading…

You might no longer get a welcoming cup of tea, but if you’re after something stronger that won’t be a problem. Eastbourne Today reports that YHA has applied for a 24 hour entertainment and alcohol licence for Alfriston YH. They won’t be able to provide food after 5am though, so keep that dial-a-kebab leaflet handy.

Colin Rich, YHA’s food and beverage manager, deploys some impressive legalese to explain that YHA doesn’t really want to sell booze all night every night, but just wants to be legally in the clear for any special events that might be hosted at the hostel. At least I think that’s what he’s trying to say – whether it’s the message the the burghers of Eastbourne will get is another matter.

According to a thread on the uk.rec.youth-hostel newsgroup, the offer of a free cup of tea or coffee on arrival at a hostel is no longer to be made. A memo has gone out to hostel managers stating that “we now, no longer provide free tea and coffee for guests on arrival, other than as part of pre-costed packages”.

Now, this seems a little counter-productive to me. It surely can’t cost a lot of money to provide a cup that cheers on arrival (in fact, if staff are really expected to keep track of and report how many teas/coffees were provided on arrival as opposed to at mealtimes, that probably costs more in staff time than the drinks themselves). In return, YHA presents a friendly, welcoming first impression to its guests. Like that old advert used to say: “you never get a second chance to make a first impression!” Picture the scene:

Warden

Welcome to the hostel. You look frozen, would you like a cup of tea or coffee?

Hosteller

Yes please, that would be brilliant!

Warden

That’ll be 50p then.

Hosteller

Oh.

Is the YHA a warm, friendly organisation eager to attract new people into the fold, or is it just another penny-pinching budget hotel chain looking to get people through the door with apparently low prices and then squeeze every last penny from them with optional extras? I fear we’re drifting towards the latter.

Now, this isn’t an issue that I’d go to the barricades about. After all, you can always make your own cuppa in the Members’ Kitchen if you don’t want to pay for one. I do wonder, though, if YHA’s zeal to “increase the food and beverage spend per overnight” has gone a little far this time?