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At YADA, we’re all about the people! We love to share your personal experiences. With that in mind, here’s a guest feature from, friend of YADA, Jonathan. He shares how engineers enjoy a night out. What he thinks about pub culture. And, whether pubs without alcohol is can perfect the UK’s nightlife.

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Transformers, heat exchangers, boilers, engines, weld gear, steam and the like – I’m from a career commonly described as “heavy”. People that partake in that industry drink like they work and work like they drink – heavily. Now, my name is Jonathan and I’ll point out that I’ll enjoy a drink or two of an evening or weekend.

The ugly side of a night out…

I went out with some lads from a welding/fabricating shop who were at the same factory I was working on. As we got off the bus, one of the lads already had his trousers down and was weeing down the stairs.

On another night, I had to bodily carry a girl I knew, out of the club after she’d been spiked. Only to find her trying to crawl straight back inside because she hadn’t finished her drink.

A third time… the list goes on.

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Click here to read more about the dangers of alcohol and peer pressure.

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There is plenty to love about pubs…

There is so much I love about the social culture that the UK has developed around the pub and the club. If you hold the drinking section just for one second, millions of people go out to hang out! 

You can meet a friend you haven’t seen for years over a pint, or catch up with ‘the regulars’ every week.

Ingrained in UK culture we have found a way, as a nation, to come together as a past-time, and I think it’s wonderful.

So, what needs to change?

There are, however, some big sections I wish we could get over. Some things that are considered “standard” on a night out I believe we should side-line are:

1. I wish I could go out and not witness the amount of sexual abuse that people get away with.
2. I wish I could go to a place that holds all the positive aspects of a city-centre-based pub (the friendliness, the social interaction, getting to catch up with people that otherwise I wouldn’t) without the fear that later someone was going to:
   • Drunkenly pour a drink over me (happened).
   • Drunkenly mistake me for their ex and attack me (happened).
   • Talk about the same damn thing over and over. Just because, they’ve forgotten what they said 20 seconds ago. Resulting in a non-stop chat about Arsenal’s play, 17 times over, for 25 minutes (definitely happened).
3. I wish I could provide an alternative way for my friends that use alcohol as a shield to socialise. (It is possible to enjoy life without alcohol, it should never be used as your comfort blanket!)

Have pubs without alcohol got legs?

I believe that YADA’s concept of an alcohol-free bar has a lot going for it.

Some people I know still think that pubs without alcohol are not worth their time. But, the stats show that it’s not just me gunning for a culture change. Non-alcoholic beer is the fastest growing area in the beer industry over the UK, and it’s growing across the world too. I think there is a genuine opportunity for great nightlife without the pain and stupidity that currently comes with it. 

Sometimes I think I’m overthinking it, and that perhaps I just need to shut it and take the nights as they are. But then, pretty much each story I hear out in these factories is about how Jack lost his shoe and got a nail through his foot, or how Liam got a ban from there for abusing staff. It all gets taken as banter, part of the lad culture.

I think the UK can do better.

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This blog was formulated by guest blogger Jonathan Hedge