A Ventnor hotelier highlighted the ‘evil’ of Mods, Rockers and Leatherjackets in a letter to the Isle of Wight Mercury on 25th September 1964.
That Saturday night, a fight had broken out near Alexandra Gardens, which resulted in several men requiring medical attention.
Mr R. R. de St. Martin, of Carlton House, Alexandra Gardens, deplored the ‘raucous conduct’ of young people late on Saturday nights. The hotelier claims fights had involved mods, rockers and leatherjackets, and that there were many complaints from people living in the High Street, Pier Street and Alexandra Gardens.
Mr de St Martin wrote:
“At times the groups have gone through Alexandra Gardens like an army of steel-booted soldiers, laughing, shouting and cat-calling to each other in an effort to make as much noise as possible which has been of considerable discomfort to hotel guests and other neighbours who have retired for the night.
“At times, youths between 16-18 years of age have been seen so besotted with drink that it has been almost impossible for them to walk down the road even with the assistance of two other companions to help them.
“Some youths have indulged in tampering with the door locks of any cars parked in the road and worst of all, others from time to time have been seen using the front gardens opposite as a public urinal, and girls as well as boys are the offenders of this disgusting behaviour.
“From a health point of view this is certainly not hygienic. It is well known that the morals of this class of teenager are not the best, and it is therefore quite possible that, unknown even to themselves, they could be spreading a form of contagious disease when taking advantage of other people’s property in this way.
Article continues below this advertisement “The Police are doing their best to cope with the situation as far as the law will allow them, and it is up to every person who has the welfare of the town at heart to give every assistance they can in an effort t5o stamp out this evil once and for all.”
Lol. I had to laugh. They thought that was bad then they never experienced the mods and rockers on brighton seafront in the 60’s. They clashed, they fought , they used weapons. That was fear for the public and the police.
If it was today they’d be stabbing and shooting each other the world has gone crazy
Little did they know that these were the golden days when trouble of this sort was shocking. It happens on a regular basis in the 2020s & has become normalised. You’d be done for wasting Police time if you rang them to report it