Cornwall police crack down on mankinis

It’s not often that I shake my head and say ‘Those poor police officers’. But the phrase has been forced from me today, on hearing the news that police in Newquay have been forced to deal with mankinis. So much so that they’re now banned in the Cornish town.

It’s all part of a crackdown (stop it) on ‘inappropriate clothing’ in Newquay, in the hope that this will cut down on crime and ‘anti-social behaviour’ (read: binge drinking). Whether there is a direct correlation between wearing a budgie-smuggler and taking to the streets in a lawless frenzy remains to be seen, but Newquay coppers seem to think it’s working, saying last week that c rime in the town fell by a fifth this summer.

A campaign called Newquay Safe was launched in 2009 after two residents demanding action to curb the drinking culture that had crept up in recent years, with the initiative including police phoning parents around the country in the middle of the night to come and collect their drunken teenagers, confiscating booze and sometimes banning stag and hen parties from going into the town. And adopting a zero-tolerance approach to naughty clothing. Including mankinis.

Liberal types who would normally bristle at the idea of police telling people what they can’t wear will likely find themselves agreeing with Devon and Cornwall copper Julie Whitmarsh, who wisely said that mankinis are ‘just hideous’.

‘We have had this consistency of seizing inappropriate items of clothing, sending people home to get changed, and that has worked, it has made a real difference, this “no-nonsense attitude”,’ she said.

‘Is it just me, but if you were living in Bath, for example, or Bournemouth, is that something you would wear to walk into town on a Saturday afternoon? No.

‘They are just revolting, there is nothing pleasant about seeing anybody in a mankini.’

Well said, that woman. And overall the tactics are clearly working, with reports of anti-social behaviour in Newquay down by around two-thirds since the initiative was launched.

Now that the resort is safely mankini-free, have a look at our Newquay campsites and holiday parks for a family or coupled-up break , ranging from hiring a caravan at Treworgans Holiday Park or Summer Lodge Holiday Park to rolling up the campervan at Newquay Holiday Park . For stuff to do, there’s the surf schools of Holywell Bay, Newquay Zoo, the Lappa Valley Steam Railway and scrumpily sampling some Cornish cider. Perhaps not too much though, lest you find yourself stopped for donning questionable beachwear...