I’m 41 and my younger employees don’t believe in the 90s/early 00s that we’d go clubbing while in year 10/11. Can others confirm?

bealachnaebad@reddit

Was a great feeling getting a half fare on the bus in to town to go for session in the pub.

The Wetherspoons in Watford was nicknamed The Moon Under Age for this very reason. They would openly serve kids in school uniform.

This was back in 2003-ish so I don't know if things have changed.

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Scumbaggio1845@reddit

Yea I seem to remember there being a crackdown local to me around Xmas 2004 and I would assume it was a nationwide thing but prior to then you were honestly unlucky to be one of the people who couldn’t get served underage.

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TonyBlairsDildo@reddit

I had a pint in a Spoons before one my GCSE exams, in my uniform.

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girl-lee@reddit

There was a pub in NE England that me and my friends would go to on a Thursday for a pub lunch in our school uniforms, then turn up the next night to go out drinking. Never even crossed our minds that they would stop us drinking the night after. Two of the girls worked there as waitresses too so the chef and the owner would come and speak to us on occasion.

Ours was shit, but there was always something on at £1 a pint, usually Newcastle Brown for some reason.

10 tabs, usually about 5 or 6 pints (I was only 16 remember), a good spew in the public toilets opposite, home before midnight!

All for less than a tenner.

If you were really lucky you'd finish your Friday night spew before the kebab shop shut. Obviously, if you were unlucky, you'd been to the kebab shop before the vomiting started.

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ChieckeTiotewasace@reddit

Beehive by any chance?

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BigDsLittleD@reddit

Nope.

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Xr3iRacer@reddit

I think this was quite a common attitude a lot of pubs took. A local pub near to my school would serve the sixth formers as they were in suits, they knew full well most were underage but they made lunch time trade from it.
We went to a curry house from about 14 most Fridays and would get hammered there, then one year we celebrated some fake 18ths every now and then 😂

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Quinn_27@reddit

Wetherspoons want you in and drinking from an early agile

So when you’re 40-60, you are part of their Monday Club (giro day) having a pint with your £4 All Day Breakfast as the highlight of your week

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BigDsLittleD@reddit

Didn't work with me, I only set foot in Spoons as a last resort.

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Quinn_27@reddit

I avoid the places like the plague

As crazy as is, I prefer an independent pub

Or at a push, Sam Smiths (no phones, no music, no TV)

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Iwantedalbino@reddit

We’d have a country pub between two bigger villages. The police knew. They’d sit where we walked across the dual carriageway north and south bound so there wasn’t a car crash.

The feeling was they’d rather we were spending money in one location that was easy to police than scattered through three four villages worth of parks and lanes drinking whatever we’d lifted from our parents drinks cupboards

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BigDsLittleD@reddit

I got the feeling the local coppers were the same where I was.

If we were getting pissed and being dickheads in spoons, at least we weren't on the park being a nuisance.

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zebra1923@reddit

Sometimes there an informal agreement with the Police. We won’t raid you for underage as we prefer knowing where the kids are. If there’s no trouble we’ll accept them in your pub.

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lankyno8@reddit

Interesting, the spoons where I grew up was fairly hot on id, in a way some of the nicer pubs weren't

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Falloffingolfin@reddit

14 for me in the pub, 15 for the nightclub. Never got ID'd once. It was the age where you had to wear a shirt, trousers and shoes to get in most clubs. As long as you did that, you basically walked straight in.

The funniest thing was that we all used to go to a pub near my school on Friday night as they had a DJ and dancefloor in the back room. One night we turned up and there was no DJ as he'd not turned up. Couple of the lads ran home and got some decks they were learning on and the landlord let them set up and play. Did it every week after that.

Student night, Thursday at Discoteque Royales in Manchester, 1991, year 10 (actually, we just called it 4th year). Me and my mate were far from being considered cool kids, so classmates didn’t believe us either. I might have got turned away occasionally, but it wasn’t much of a risk.

Where I lived they introduced a local ID card when I was 16/17, which made it harder to buy cider when I was 17 than when I was 14/15.

Luckily for us Jack joined the school around then and he was a teenager permanently disguised as a fully bearded man

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haddock420@reddit

On my 17th birthday, my brother took me to the pub and told the barman it was my 18th, and I got the drinks in all night.

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demanufacture79@reddit

Same. I grew up in a village and all the pubs around just didn’t care, as long as you didn’t act like a twat

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DadVan-Soton@reddit

I owned a club in the 90s, and I can tell you it definitely was an issue. With lots of nimby local residents showing up to the late licence planning meeting, they eagerly awaited any damning report on the club by the police representative.

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Embarrassed_Storm563@reddit

I first went clubbing ages 15 with the wages from the job I got at 14

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647666@reddit

Went when I was 15 in 2005. Had my arm around my older sister (weird as fuck, her idea) bouncer stopped us, he was basically overuled and despite him being skeptical of my age I got in. Found myself sitting in the club alone in the dark, watching people dance. Older guys would walk by and laugh in my face. I looked so obviously out of place.

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Started going to my local at 11, drinking at 15. The staff knew, but as I was with my dad they didn’t care as long as I was behaved.

Turbantastic@reddit

Monday night Ritz! I met my wife there over 20 years ago when I was under 18 haha. Monday night Ritz, Tuesday night free bar at Satan's, Thursday night Jillys, Friday night Satans (or the all nighter at Jillys) and Saturday night rock kitchen, good days!

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Humble_Ebb_5141@reddit

The free bar on a Tuesday at Satan’s was wild, I’d start the night with a couple £2.50 triple vodka red bulls at The Garratt before heading there. I’d be going home in Taxi after 2 of them these days. This was 2002/2003 when I was 20.

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It changed few times, it was whatever you paid to get in and free ALL night bar. Then it was variations on pay to gwt in and the bar was free until 12, until 11, or an hour after entry. Prices crept up a little.

Many times smashed off my tits eating not fully cooked pot noodles, before leaving and getting a kebab.

The most awkward bit was when getting ID’d regularly became a thing when I was about 19/20. They’d see the DoB and say, you’ve been coming here nearly 5 years haven’t you!

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Last-Weekend3226@reddit

39 and used to go out drinking in pubs and clubbing in those years

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TheCommomPleb@reddit

I was buying fags at 12 and drinking in the local pub at 14

Admittedly that's not because I looked 16/18.. just a lot of places didn't give a fuck

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ChewpapaNeebrae@reddit

Nights out in Nottingham used to be ace! Getting into Cucumara's at 17 to get instantly shit faced on tequila slammers and then ending up in Rock City was 👌🏻👌🏻👌🏻

The sickest (good sick) kebab from Antalya's to finish the night 🤤

I miss those days. Sadly my body won't allow me the energy to do it anymore (I'm 37M 😭) .

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Koholinthibiscus@reddit

I was a regular from 17 but could’ve gone earlier if I’d wanted

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lamb1282@reddit

Bars yes clubs not as much. I went with my older brother to a club at 16 but wouldn’t have got in without him. But perfectly normal going to bars on Friday night from about 15

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buzyapple@reddit

Yep, started going out to clubs at 15/year 10. Was just how things were back then.

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appletinicyclone@reddit

Didn't there used to be non drinking night clubs as well or am I imagining that

EyeAdministrative665@reddit

And sex too. They aren’t fucking till their mid 20s. Especially the boys

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buzyapple@reddit

With cameras on phones and social media that’s probably a good thing, I am VERY glad those times were not photographed and shared on socials for me. There’d be a lot of messy nights out to hide.

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thekittysays@reddit

Oh jeesus Christ me too. So very glad my teen years were not documented on social media.

I always used to take my camera out but that was limited to 1 roll of film and then I had printed photos, half of which were blurry shit lol

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MadWifeUK@reddit

Same age, I'd get the bus into town for half price then go to the pub or club. Once we turned 18 there were places we wouldn't go anymore because they were "full of kids."

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Pubs were fine too, I had classmate at school who was caught D n D by the coppers and ended up in lockup overnight, but they didn't check his ID fortunately for him. So, when he sobered up he walked out.

I would have drawn the limit at visiting a bordello, but I knew some that did and spent the week bragging about it.

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Connect-Body3538@reddit

I was going into nightclubs in Southport at 14!!! Bit of makeup and heels no one asked for ID. The Manhattan was one, can’t remember the other one, old looking building opposite the big arcade next to the pier. Good ole days

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dou8le8u88le@reddit

I’m 49 and we were going to raves at 15 years old. Bonkers to think about now but there was loads of us doing it.

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robdelterror@reddit

Me and my mate made fake ID badges, claiming we were ride operators at Blackpool Pleasure Beach, on Microsoft Paint.

Yes can confirm, I was going round my local town at 14/15, I'd go out with £15 on a night and I'd have enough to drink, buy some ciggies and then kebab and chips on the way home, that'd be every Friday and Saturday and I'd still have money left over to chill in the pub on a sunday and watch footy,

I worked 3 part time jobs while still at school, i'd set up and take down the market stalls on a Friday and Saturday, helped on a milk round daily at 3am and mowed lawns for a top up on the evenings if weather was decent.

It was a great time, ciggies where 98p for 10 and a pint was £1.10.

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seamus_park@reddit

38 here and yep, 100%. School shoes on and the best Ben Sherman shirt Mum could buy plus a scratching up and editing of the Connexions Card date of birth and we were away.

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BanditKing99@reddit

Birth certificates were widely accepted in my city. You would just borrow (and then lose) someone in the year above

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Silly_Triker@reddit

Going into clubs with shirts and shoes, that’s a blast from the past. Just seems surreal these days wearing a shirt for almost any occasion let alone a night out at a club

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Spottyjamie@reddit

Our college cards had a blank line so we’d just wrote

DOB (one to make us 18 lol!)

The barstaff just assumed it was official college card

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callisstaa@reddit

Fucking hell the connexions card hahaha! I was born in 84 and distinctly remember turning the 4 into a 1.

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AWhistlingWoman@reddit

Oh man. The connexions card 😂 good times

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Ravekat1@reddit

Yep.. and the raves.. I think my first was 14.

I don't think anyone gave a shit back then.

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Eyupmeduck1989@reddit

Can remember it was easier for me to get served in Nottingham aged 15 than at 17 because they really tightened up checking everyone’s ID’s (this was mid 00s)

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electricmohair@reddit

Seems everyone on this thread is saying everywhere suddenly started IDing properly in the mid 00s - did something happen to kick it off?

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Ok_Anything_9871@reddit

Presumably it was in response to the Licensing Act (2003). I this introduced new criminal offences around selling alcohol to children, children on premises etc. I'm not sure exactly what the position was beforehand but I'm guessing pubs were less liable?

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No_Direction_4566@reddit

Agree with this - first went clubbing at 13/14 and then got stopped around 16 because they increased checking in the mid 00’s.

mikewilson2020@reddit

At 15 I was going to a rave which started at 10pm and finished at 7am on Sunday morning.. Never sweated so much since 🥰 The New Monkey Till I Die ❤️

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PastLanguage4066@reddit

Essance on a Thursday was for uni students (worked there on Thursdays and was a regular on other nights) but I’m sure you got in - we used to go out clubbing at 15 in a different town.

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MultipleScoregasm@reddit

I only started at 19 but I remember running into girls as young at 14 in clubs all the time. They looked 18 easy.

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bit0n@reddit

I had my 18th in the same pub 3 years running. I was actually 18 the 3rd time.

Slightly younger than you - 36 - and can confirm that we were getting into bars and clubs while in college, so 16 and 17?

To me, bit later, bit harder to get in makes sense? I find it totally believable people your age were able to go clubbing younger.

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I’m 34 and I bought my first alcoholic drink at a pub when I was 14, and was no stranger to pubs by the time I was 18. I also used to buy fags and alcohol if I went to the right shops

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Praetalis@reddit

31 and can confirm was the same for me. 16 at some pubs and 17 at a club.

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I'm 39 and got into my first club (Jilly's in Manchester) at 15. Admittedly it was a notorious craphole that was almost shut down by the police multiple times due to never IDing people (it's closed down now but for different reasons).

By the time my brother - 4 years younger than me - tried to go they were religiously IDing everyone. I don't think he tried to go until he was 17, so this was actually 6 years later. He actually borrowed my driving licence to get in as he looked a lot like me!

So yeah, 6 years made a massive difference in ID checking practices at venues.

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mentaldriver1581@reddit

By the time I turned eighteen I’d had enough of the bar scene.

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Indoril_Nereguar@reddit

This happens now too. Nothing has changed.

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DanscoRed@reddit

I didn’t go out clubbing till I was 16 and at college due to my father being a pub manager and other managers knew me. But over the years I had mates who went to school the next day after going clubbing. Was totally normal in the 90s.

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I was clubbing in Hippodrome- Leicester Square, Bon Bonne's in Herne Hill, Time and Envy in Romford from 14. Skanking out in my Gucci monagram loafers, my Dior saddle bag, return to Tiffany tag necklace and to top off the swagger.... The Buddha Finger!

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BigJC27@reddit

Ye 100% it was common where I grew up I was in town from late 14 I think by the time I was 15 I was in cream and hed kandi in nation of my tits on tablets haha, grew up quick like and looking back at it even tho it was a good time probably cut my childhood alot shorter than it shout of been or what I'd ever wish for my own little one.

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IAmTakingThoseApples@reddit

Young people nowadays don't really do that as a past time. To them, clubbing is the super exclusive and wanky shit you see on TV or go to with your wannabe friends. Local clubs for younger people on a night out aren't nearly as big a thing as they were back then.

Ha, I was listening to some uk garage today. I love that shit :D

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StopTheTrickle@reddit

more mature girls in year 11 going to club nights at Isis/Palais (remember them!) with older lads.

Ahhh yes, I remember the lads who had a thing for high-school girls. Buying them vodka and making them feel like they were an adult

Nonces, that's what we call them these days

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Flimsy-Paper42@reddit

Creation in Stoke 🔥

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Figueroa_Chill@reddit

I first went to an over 18s club when I was 14. I took half a Dove, and a guy gave me a gram of speed to perk me up. It was a good night, and I saw CeCe Peniston live.

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Si_the_chef@reddit

Was a regular at the local nightclub, even knew a few of the bouncers' names from chatting to them when in the outside bit to cool off..

Started age 15, never had ID checked till I was 19.... bouncer was laughing cos he knew I'd been going there years, cost me a pint lol

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ineedtotrytakoneday@reddit

my name was brian mcgee

i stayed up listening to queen

when i was 17

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theeternal_420@reddit

Can confirm

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cactusdan94@reddit

My parents are older than you but they will vouch for this.

Thursday night was RnB night in Legends in Newcastle. From 15 I was there every Thursday, drinking and dancing until 2:30am close. Would go out with a tenner every week and still have cash for a taxi home. Bed at 4am, up at 7am for school, hangovers nonexistent.

I was 14 in 1980 and the tallest oldest looking lads already went in pubs and a lot of girls also. I first went in a licensed bar at 16 in a hotel party.

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TestAwkward9422@reddit

We did the same at that age in the early 1970’s ! Living in east London we managed to get into many central London venues - ‘discos’ were blossoming then. Most Fri and Sat nights we (4 girls, 16 & 17 y/o’s) would walk the 3 miles home from the Lyceum in the Strand or Global Village near Trafalgar Square at 1am. We were safe.

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EnvironmentalEye5402@reddit

Literally everyone was clubbing from 14+.

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Jolly-Minimum-6641@reddit

My peers managed this.

I was about as cool as Kuwait in a heatwave, so didn't really go out until I was 18 and at university.

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lungbong@reddit

I was 14 in 1989 when I first went in pubs. Went in clubs on a Friday night at 16. On a Wednesday when we had no lesssons in upper 6th at 17 went to the chippy for lunch and then spent the afternoon in the pub.

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dungeon-mister@reddit

I went to an "underage rave" in Brixton in 2008. No alcohol sold so everyone just took mdma and pills instead.

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sugarrayrob@reddit

Monday Brannigans

Tuesday Revs

Wednesday night off (or youth club lol)

Thursday Bar Risa

Friday Fez

BookkeeperSecure1078@reddit

Yea man I'm from Nottingham too, story checks out totally. Student night Thursday. Kids everywhere. I was clubbing and pubbing from 15, dressed up like an adult feeling like a real man. I looked like a child in grown up clothes lol. Funny looking back but yes, times were different. I used to buy fireworks in my school uniform on the way to school at 13. Buying fags at 11 and saying they're for my mum. Shopkeepers made bare loot out of kids in the 90s 😂😂😂😂😂 thanks for the memories, they were good times. What have they done with this country lol. It used to actually be decent and that ain't just stupid childhood nostalgia, it was different man.

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supply19@reddit

We were clubbing on a Monday night 7-10pm (14-17 year olds). 16/17 year olds could get in with fake ID’s at the weekend. Our nightclubs were stricter on ID’s

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luckynumberstefan@reddit

Nappy night!

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DotAffectionate87@reddit

I started drinking in Pubs at 15/16 this was 1983/1984

Never asked for ID to be fair this was UK where 18 is the drinking age...., girls of that age were always allowed into clubs and such

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Outrageous_Shirt_737@reddit

I worked in a club cloakroom when I was in year 11 and girls from the years below would often be in. I didn’t really go myself until was at 6th form but was still 16 and would see younger kids in there.

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gobrun@reddit

I’m around the same age as you (43), and yes we did the same thing. Trousers, Ben Sherman shirt and shoes in those days. Embarrassing as hell in hindsight. We started going to clubs when we’re 15-16 in North Wales.

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WarSniff@reddit

I never really went to pubs/clubs much but in the early 00s as I was a massive D&B head would regularly go to raves at the circus tavern to see a one nation set and the see the all the basically naked woman pole dancing around the place and then the next day asking my mum if she could take be to Bas Vegas so I could grab the tape pack of the set I’d just seen, I would have been like 13/14 at the time and she was always asking me where I was hearing all this terrible music I was making her buy me, then I hit 15/16 when the DnB scene just became everyone coked up standing round looking angry and on edge hitting up rain/moon dance with my terrible fake ID and getting in every single time. Hell one time at moon dance NYE in elephant and castle and got offered my first tab of LSD by a couple of old skool ravers in their early 60s like proper hippie types because I’d shown them the picture the Rat pack when they were kind enough to be in one with me.

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krypto-pscyho-chimp@reddit

Absolutely. Drunk in first pub at 15. Clubbing at 16. When I was 19 I was a teaching assistant in a high school. A 14 or 15 year old Russian school girl I helped learn to read English approached me in the same club.

Can confirm true. i went to phoenix music festival (four days party) in the 90s while in year 10-11 summer holidays. I didn’t tell my mum and I just left and then she found out off my bfs mum where we were. I went clubbing a lot in Birmingham during same period.

No photo ids back then. No doorman with sia badges for standards, it would just be ya mate’s uncle who liked scrapping at football and got a few extra quid to stop bad trouble ie fights. It was basically a free-for-all looking back on it.

I was completely bored of it by 18/19, and I’d never go out now but I hear it’s not the same anymore at all.

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I was clubbing in college, 16-18. We used to head out right at opening time because we had a better chance of getting in when it was dead.

There were kids in year 10-11 going out clubbing, I was not one of them though.

Back when college was more normal I gotta say a lot of the country side kids by 16 were already on psychedelics, regular weed smokers and quite a few already established on rave and squat scenes. Not myself particularly but some of my classmates in collgege had clearly been going out years, whether in legal establishments or no…

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Phantom_Crush@reddit

I was going to pubs and clubs when I was 15. Never got ID'd a single time either but I did look a bit older than a lot of my peers

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TheGardenOfConjoi@reddit

Yes was drinking in a pub at 14/15 and first went clubbing at 16. And that’s in the late 00s / 2010s

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TheMarkMatthews@reddit

Yes it’s normal back then

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Competitive-Yard-442@reddit

40 and Scottish but yeah, pubs from around 14/15 clubs 15 for sure.

Only 1 pub regularly ID'd and that was after 2 rounds.

Again, everyone knew and as long as didn't act the cunt all was well!

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Can confirm, peice of piss in Kingston

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Pieboy8@reddit

Yeah Amadeus in Kent was prolific back in the early 00s.

I’m in my mid-20s and can remember the same. Few people in my school cohort used to go clubbing around fifteen and sixteen - convincing fake IDs were in cheap supply, and there were a few people who could convincingly pass for an eighteen year old. I even think that there were two girls in my year that got into my city’s Oceana nightclub before that closed in 2014 — they would’ve been thirteen. I personally started drinking at a local, aged seventeen. Few mates who would often come with me were sixteen. All this occurred between 2015-2017.

However, I can empathise with your younger employees. I have spoken to plenty of people who haven’t had the same experience as me. Going to a rough and ready school didn’t help my situation, at least that’s my assumption.

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Reasonable_Try_1346@reddit

When I was 18 my 16 year old brother who happened to be 6ft5 started tagging along when I went clubbing. My mum didn't mind as long as I looked after him lol

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SlinkyBits@reddit

im 36. i didnt go to over 18 clubbing until i got my ID, you just couldnt risk going all that way and not getting in because of ID.

but there was plenty of clubbing for 16y/o

i went to my local pub for over a year, had a little 18 birthday party in there, the landlord laughed about it.

instead wed be drinking stella and vodka on a park bench. because you know, we had pure class

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Apprehensive_Bill339@reddit

I was in year 11 in 2004/05 an can confirm 100%

Yep! I have a sibling who started going to a pub at 13, was offered a job there at 15, and the pub owner was rather gobsmacked when they celebrated when their 18th birthday was celebrated lol.

I had friends who snook out of boarding school on Friday nights to go clubbing at 16.

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OneCatch@reddit

Yep, there were specific pubs which were lax and you could get into from about 15. This was circa 2004/2005 so a tad later than you.

See also this scene from Hot Fuzz - the joke wouldn't work if there weren't an element of truth to it!

https://youtu.be/u5ZbTMEcmx0?si=QwqUzAoEINrHmsBH

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iwanttobeacavediver@reddit

I never personally went, it just wasn’t my scene at all (and I could drink at home) but there were definitely places jn my town that allowed 15-17 year olds to get in and drink, and pretty much everyone knew where they were. It was also an open secret as to which convenience stores and off licences would sell alcohol to clearly underage people.

At least one of those nightclubs now doesn’t exist purely because of the no IDing thing along with drugs so it got raided by the police and eventually shut down. And it seems that the off licences and shops are now substantially stricter about ID.

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martinbean@reddit

Yup. Went to many a club way before I should have.

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Moreghostthanperson@reddit

It was definitely a thing, not for me though as by the time I was 15 needing id for such things was basically compulsory. I also looked about 11 at 15, so no way would I have got in.

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Gildas88@reddit

Started going out drinking in 96 when I was 16, I was fairly tall, well built and with facial hair and never had a problem getting into clubs. Have never been asked for ID in my life, but if you found the right place I don't think it mattered, one bar in town used to serve kids in school uniform and all the barman ever said was 'they are probably 6th formers' if people said anything about it.

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TheTruth_329@reddit

Yes- first night club at 15, somehow managed to get into a over 21s night in Bristol when I was 16, regular at clubs during 6th form, they couldn’t give two shits back then as long as you didn’t look like a 12 year old

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Steamrolled777@reddit

It wasn't much different in mid 80s, and my town had a good number of pubs you could get served in. Sixth form had one we always went to, and next was one nearest the College with friends who left school.

Clubs were a bit hit and miss, some would be 21, and maybe 25. They were much easier to get back from when I got a car at 17, and one of my friends was from 2 years below, so 15.

Born in 1990, I started clubbing in 2006 at 16 years old.

I had to have a fake passport. I used my current passport, scanned it into photoshop and edited my birthdate and my name, printed it off and then stuck it to an expired passport. I rebuilt the corner using my brothers expired passports. Worked like a charm because at the time passports didn’t have holograms on them.

I remember at the time, there were some who were clubbing, and some who were playing with their Nintendo in their bedrooms. I think that’s probably still true, only the Nintendos change.

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Kandis_crab_cake@reddit

Absolutely used to, either Friday and Saturday night, to proper clubs in Birmingham or the surrounding areas. The other night was spent in the pub. I’m in the midlands. Never got IDd. Best going out years for me were ‘96-00. Age 15 -18.

There would always be a few pubs in every town which would knowingly serve underage kids, so you had your local. But as long as you didn’t make a scene and brought the cash flow they were cool with it. Just had to leg it out the back door if the pub got raided (which it did, frequently).

Girls could easily get in to clubs from 14-15

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Spottyjamie@reddit

Yeah i took my geography gcse hungover after going to a rock club night before

Year 10, village or estate pub for one or two wasnt unheard of. Year 11 yeah we’d go out to bars/clubs

Yeah I think in year 10/11 we mostly drank outside or at a friend's house. We knew which shops would serve us.

It's true, I think I was 15 when I started clubbing, never asked for ID. Our friend group would each tell our parents we were staying at each others homes but we were just pulling all nighters lol.

We chanced an over 21 place once. The bouncers asked us the usual questions, date of birth followed by star sign, but we were ready for it.

They gave each other a grin then told us "get in then. You might look older in the dark".

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Cold_Lengthiness7973@reddit

Yeah there was always boozers that would serve us

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Ginger_Tea@reddit

Rock world in Manchester had one lass that was too young looking to be a short adult.

But I know school kids were there on occasion but not drinking. IDK the door policy but they were never going to pass a challenge 25 and the only way that one got beer was because she would drive by snatch my pint and I'd be too pissed to care as she walked off with it sipping as she went.

I wasn't her only target, but I think she liked strongbow more than anything else she snatched.

One day I finished night's and was parched, so I bought two pints to down and she thought I actually bought one for her.

Because why else would I buy two pints?

One was necked in one, I was thirsty and the other started. I'm sure by my 5th I got drive by'd.

No idea on her home life, but kicked out at 6am so she was never home during Friday nights. Would a parent of a teen be happy about that?

You might get away with midnight or two, but getting home around 7am?

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SherbetBeneficial373@reddit

I was in a club at age 16, got ID’d whilst stood with my brother at the bar.

I handed over my brother’s ID with 100% confidence (it had worked every other time). The bar man looked at the license, looked up at me, and then across at my brother…

‘That’s not you, it’s him!’

Any_Listen_7306@reddit

The word would go round about which pubs and clubs were lax about ID!

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cer1978@reddit

Ah the good old days of getting half fare on the bus then going to a nightclub. I'm 46 and lived near Wakefield

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nd1online@reddit

Went to club with my school friends when I was 16. Bizarrely the girls in our group, even though they were taller and looked more grown up to my eyes, were usually the ones who get stopped for ID more often than the boys. When that happened we would just move on to another one. It wasn’t like we were out every weekend, but the success rate of getting into a club were pretty high than I don’t remember there were any nights we have to go home early.

I bumped into my then, recently graduated art teacher and the girls P.E. teacher "Pilling off their nuts" at Lydd airport World dance in 94. I laughed, they crapped themselves , and I got an A in my art gcse that year 👍🏻

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Daveddozey@reddit

All went down hill when the new sergeant from London turned up.

Asked “what’s your birthday”, told him. He then asked “what year” and I said every year.

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LazyFiiish@reddit

Drinking pints in the local flat top at 13, Drinking in bars in town from 16.

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LottimusMaximus@reddit

Started clubbing at 14, this was 2002, rarely asked for ID but I used my step sisters and it always worked

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UniqueEnigma121@reddit

I had a bar tab at 17😂. I went clubbing at 16 no problem getting in. I also had a Barclay card & had lied about my age. So buy booze was easy with that.

Though, I’d been able to buy cigarettes in my school uniform at 12.

It was seen as something the - ahem - less-classy young women would do.

It actually put me off clubs for life, despite the fact that I was tall early and could probably have got away with it.

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McLeod3577@reddit

We would often go to the pub at lunchtime at school and I remember going to clubs when I was 16-17.

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Active-Hotel1719@reddit

Every weekend!

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DJ_Micoh@reddit

I remember when I was 17 and a half, the pub I had been going into since the age of 13 started checking IDs and I couldn't get a drink for six months lol

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Absentmined42@reddit

I started going clubbing in my nearest city when I was 16-17 years old (c.2001-2002). My friends were over 18 and I tagged along! I had a fake ID - I think I was only asked for ID once and the bouncer said “I have pubes older than you” but he let me in anyway!

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PlasticFannyTastic@reddit

Not so much clubbing in that sense, as I didn’t get into that until I was 18/19 - but heavy metal/alternative clubs and bars were pretty easy to get into.

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ThatchersDirtyTaint@reddit

Year 11 it would start. Knew a couple of lads who started in year 10 but their hormones had hit them hard an early. 6 ft with full thick goatees.

I am also early 40s male and my first nightclub experience was my 15th birthday. I was out in pubs, bars and nightclubs multiple nights a week from then on.

My mates and I had student union membership cards (courtesy of a mate's mum who worked at a college) that you just filled in yourself with biro, and we wrote fake dates of birth in case we were ever asked for ID. There wasn't even a DOB line on the ID - we just wrote it on anyway!

I knew a 14 year old girl that would go high end places in London and get free drinks from men.

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CherryPie8219@reddit

Yes I was barely 16 when I went clubbing for the first time to Liverpool city centre, that was in 2002. Got asked for ID at a few places but we soon found our where we wouldn't get asked and stuck to the same places.

My parents knew where I was, I said I'm going or I'll jusg lie to you and pretend im staying at a friend's, what would you rather me do? Luckily, my parents are really laid back and told me to be safe and have fun 😂

That was a group of girls, we would meet up later on with other girls and lads from our year in the last club of the night. Great memories.

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el_pieablo@reddit

Only went to a bar u18 once, but went into student union when u18 a few times.

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ClayDenton@reddit

I don't think bouncers cared so long as you had an ID of some variety saying you were 18, fake, stolen or otherwise!

I used to go out at 16/17 with my friend's older brother's ID, he was 24 🤣

Went to my local over 21s place at 15, Slammin Vinyl at 16. The local cheese club was hotter on ID than Bagleys.

apeliott@reddit

We started around that age in Swansea back in the day.

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nnngggh@reddit

I was in a club during October holidays back in 2001, when i was 22, and while i was waiting at the bar i realised me and my mate were clearly the oldest folk in there. Most everyone else was about 16.

Dunno what was going on that night but i'd never seen it like that before, or any time after that where there was just soooo many underage kids in there at 2am. 😂

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of_Ruins_and_Myth@reddit

I had three 18th birthday celebrations in the same pub. The landlord only bought me a pint on my actual 18th though. He knew how old my mates and I were, and as he said: "You come in, cause no trouble and spend money." A friend of the family worked the doors at the Hacienda in Manchester, back in it's heyday; he got me and 8 friends in when most of us were 16. No one cared.

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I was born in 1994, I grew up in SE London. We was defo going clubbing in year 10 and 11, there was two clubs in Croydon which hosted nights for young people, and by year 11 it was Dubstep raves in Vauxhall, Elephant and Castle, I remember seeing Tiny Tempah live in Elephant and castle before he blew up

This is on top of the numerous house parties I went to and bashment raves!

Good times man, I have an 8 year old son and I'm not entirely sure what he'll be doing, he plays out like I did, but I'd never let him play out in the same way I did when i was his age. Times have changed.

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leem7t9@reddit

Always had to wear pants and shoes though 🤣

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bloodgutsandpunkrock@reddit

I don't remember going clubbing at that age, mainly because I looked about 10 years old until I had a growth spurt at 15, but we were all regular drinkers by the time I was 13/14 and this was usually the result of one of the taller lads just walking into the off licence and buying what we wanted. There was rarely an issue.

I turned 16 in 2003 and that seemed to be the turning point of ID and that being taken more seriously but in my early days of legally entering clubs and pubs, it still wasn't unusual to see people that I knew were younger than me drinking and clubbing, particularly the girls who seemed only require a push up bra and a smile for ID.

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JamesyUK30@reddit

100%,

When I was 15 I looked 18 and went regularly and bear in mind as a guy it was tougher getting in but they just let all the girls in. A thing I think most people forget, kids had weekend jobs a lot more commonly back then, I worked at a garden centre sat+sun for £8.50 a day..... Then spunked it all saturday night.

We would either claim one was at the others house or in the summer we'd be out in the morning, come back for dinner, get changed and off to the club.

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gogginsbulldog1979@reddit

I was going to clubs and pubs at 15. I remember being hungover many times at school.

Ah, the days when being ID'd was asking for your date of birth 😂

But yeah, certainly at 16, going out into town was standard behaviour, I'd even say some of my best clubbing years were 16-18.

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SidneySmut@reddit

A nightclub near me would admit 16/17 yo on a Saturday night if you had a membership card. Naturally, someone stole a load when helping out with the refurb during summer hols

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LostCtrl-Splatt@reddit

Don't know about clubbing. But I went to a lot of live gigs from the age of 12.

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BigfatDan1@reddit

In 2006 I was 16, and we knew there were a few bars in town that would let us in guaranteed.

Vast_Resolve_8354@reddit

Wasn't a fan of clubs as a teen, but I was getting served in pubs/bars from about 14 in the very early 00s. The type of places that used to put on gigs for the local punk/metal bands were not exactly the type of places that were hot on checking ID.

I remember one time the barman asked if I had any, I said no, he says "Just give me anything ID shaped - just for the CCTV". I gave him my Orange mobile top-up card, he stares at it for a few seconds and goes "Yeah looks fine to me" and makes my drinks for me and my also underage girlfriend.

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Kat8844@reddit

I’m 37, people did definitely go to pubs and clubs when I was 15/16, I never got away with it though because I looked really young for my age, I used to hate that but love it now I’m in my 30s!.

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SillyArtichoke3812@reddit

Cucamaras for £1 tequila x10, then Rock city off our head on e’s, back to a flat for afters, fuck college off the next day. A truly golden age.

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thethirdbar@reddit

i was 15 in 2003, and i don't think i was in clubs quite so early, but definitely drinking at a mates' house (his mum said she preferred us safe in her house than drinking on the streets; but had a firm 'you vom, you clean' rule).

my best mate's parents then became pub landlords when we were around 16, so we would regularly drink there and often end up in town - i used to borrow my mate's big sister's friend's ID if i got asked, as we looked acceptably similar! ha ha.

I started going to the local rock clubs from about 15/16 years old. When one would crack down on ID we'd just go to a different one until they started cracking down and we'd switch back.

I'd been in pubs since I was 16. One of my friends had her 18th birthday party in the pub we'd been going to for over a year. Landlord just thought it was funny.

I wasn't big on clubs but went to a few, and had friends who went once or twice a month from 16 onwards.

DaddyShark28989@reddit

Kids these days don't believe how good we had it. Older brother was at Swansea uni in the early 00s and me and my mates used to go up while in year 11/12 to stay with him and go out.

No one believes me when I tell them several places in Swansea at that time were £10 entry on the door for all you can drink. It was insane value when you look back at it.

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MDK1980@reddit

I went to bed one night with a squeaky little boy voice. When I woke up the next morning, I sounded like the white, well, Barry White. Needless to say, clubbing at 15 wasn't ever a problem. GenX also just happened to look a lot older than Millennials anyway. Also helped that a lot of the friends I went out with were out of school, had long hair, facial hair, etc. Remember being out one night and then having to leg it because I saw one of my teachers.

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fabulousteaparty@reddit

I'd be classed as one of your younger employees but all of my siblings are around your age, and they used to go "out out" almost every weekend when I was little. So 100% believe this.

(My middle sister even used to tag along with our older sister, aged 14 and 17 at the time so...)

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BillyJoeDubuluw@reddit

Yes. Guilty as charged. I was up to much the same.

A lot of elaborate little trips over to Tokyo Jo’s in Preston and pub crawls in Great Harwood, actually… I think we had just concluded from our experiments we were a bit more anonymous in those places…

In any case, we were still knee deep in our GCSE’s the first time we set off 😂

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V65Pilot@reddit

We were allowed in but told not to buy alcohol. Once in, no-one cared

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sockhead99@reddit

100%. We were getting served in the off licence from 15, served in local pubs at 16 and clubbing from 16/17. Formal ID just wasn't a thing really, but if anyone did ask I'd manage to fake copies of birth certificates using my parents colour scanner and printer (which were not common back then).

In fact, the day I turned 18 was the fist time the landlord of my local asked me for ID, I told him I'd been drinking there for 2 years and he said "yeah, but I know your 18 now so I can ask and not have to kick you out!"

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Nooms88@reddit

Yea I was born in 88, I had no issues when I was 14/15, but they changed the law when I was about 16 to make the individuals liable for underage drinking and it became a lot harder, previously you'd just have a shitty fake ID after that they'd only accept official IDs like drivers licence or passport in most places

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No_Procedure6669@reddit

Yep, I’m 42 and we’d be in clubs in Manchester from 15-16.

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Diplomatic_Gunboats@reddit

Access to some decent photo-software, a colour printer and a laminating machine in the early 90's made me a god amongst my peers looking for a fake ID.

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Yep from year 9 onwards ! Was. Different time !!!

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OSUBrit@reddit

My wife, who is the same age as me but American, absolutely refuses to believe that the way to get the place buzzin' in the mid 2000's was to play the theme to Baywatch. It happened kids.

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IronSkywalker@reddit

Admittedly a little later as I'm 34, but I'd often go out with my brothers ID, on one occasion I chanced my ID saying I was 17 and got away with it.

My fiancé is about to turn 40 and she'd be out drinking at 16/17

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Nervous_Tourist_8699@reddit

My mate and I worked behind the bar in a pub from age 15. The night club staff used to come in before they started and we gave them free drinks and when we knocked off around 11.30, straight to the front of the queue and free drinks all night. Sweet deal that (maybe not for the pub and nightclub)

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geeered@reddit

Plenty of kids still doing this, just a bit harder now - an older sibling with genuine ID helps I believe.

In the late 90s there was still definitely the risk of being "id'd" - I always looked quite old and seemed to get ask for ID more when I turned 18, maybe because I wasn't making an effort to confidently be over 18.

And sometimes when I was a bit older I'd go in with a younger friend's GF who was 17; he was 19, but looked quite baby faced, so they were more likely to ask both for ID together than if she was with me.

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molluscstar@reddit

Started at 14. From 15 onwards I went mostly to rock clubs, including during my GCSEs!

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sayleanenlarge@reddit

Well no because I couldn't get in. You did still need ID for places and they didn't want a bunch of young teens being dickheads....but, some people could get in because they looked older, so there 100% were people. I'm talking about the big London clubs.

Just our small town club, which played cheese, you could sometimes get in, sometimes not. Definitely fid get served underage around different pubs. There's no way they didn't know we were underage. I looked about 12 until my mid-30s.

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Poo_Poo_La_Foo@reddit

I went to my first club when I was 13.

By the time I was 15 I had my sisters provisional driving license that said I was 18 (she had passed her test so didn't need it any more). By the time I was 18, I was going to over 21 bars.

I was quite a 'developed' young lady, in the titular department, and was not afraid to flirt suggestively to get to where I was going.

Unlike my mates, I struggled to get in clubs before 18 (male, babyface), but that never stopped me trying. My first job was in a work social club as a quizmaster/bingo caller at 14, and I got paid a case of Bacardi Breezers for the night.

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DaRealCamille@reddit

You would celebrate your 16th birthday openly in a pub and the staff would not give a shit.

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KoontFace@reddit

I started clubbing at 16 and was done with it by 18

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quosp@reddit

I'm a similar age and can confirm. In those pre internet days you could get fake ID like NUS cards, companies used to advertise them in magazines like Loaded and FHM. I used one to buy cigarettes and then when I was 15 started going to bars and clubs. The bouncers generally never ID'd girls and only the boys that looked blatantly young.

ThinkIshatmyself@reddit

Jesus I remember getting into Wigan pier weekly at the age of 15/16... Times were crazy.

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Wooden-Bookkeeper473@reddit

Girls did. Boys did not.

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Gasgas41@reddit

Ahhhh, growing up in Notts in the 90’s. What a time 😂 Local shop would sell ya beer by the jug ( home brewery or shippo’s) get dressed up and go to venue 44 in Mansfield

Out round town and hide in a corner of the Bell 😂

Difference was, if we were in a pub and not causing grief stayed quite no one really minded

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AlDu14@reddit

Also 41. I got into my first nightclub aged 14. I had fake ID but was never asked for it. Never got asked for ID until I was in my 20s.

And when I was 16, I was going out every Thursday night with the popular crowd from school and we would spend Fridays at school gossiping about it. Who got off with who.

And out Saturday nights with my older brother's friends who were all in their 20s and Sunday nights with my work colleagues - some of them my parents' age! School Monday morning.

I don't remember drinking much to be honest. It was all about the music, dancing, kissing etc.

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focalac@reddit

I’m 45. When I was 16, there was a pub that would routinely serve us, pointedly not asking for ID. Yea, they got raided a lot. Nothing came of it until they started tightening up the law in the 2000s.

Clubs only cared if you looked old enough if you were male.

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RedViking81@reddit

Can confirm, one Wednesday night in Manchester (1997, I was 16), went to the Bridgewater Hall and watched Jack Dee, then after went to Discotheque Royals.. lunch night of Brutus Golds Love Train. In school next day parents not happy I came in at 2am and English teacher (who was decent) in the first lesson advised mints as ..and if quote "smell like you've been on a 3 day bender), cheers Ms O'Garr

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gamblingpunk1973@reddit

Late 80's early 90's for me, but started going to local gigs around that time and had a few pints while there aged 15-17.

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Gavstjames@reddit

Greys in Stalybridge was rife with 15-16 years olds on a Thursday.

Yes, can confirm. Every Thursday it was 70s night in the local nightclub. 70p in, 70p drinks. We got shit faced on irn bru wkd and aftershock.

I started clubbing at 15. I only got turned away for no ID ONCE and it was 2 weeks before my 18th birthday.

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AbbreviationsHot7662@reddit

I was clubbing whilst in college in 2012/13. I was 16/17.

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Jerico_Hill@reddit

lardarz@reddit

I'm 50 and used to go out on the lash almost every weekend from the age of 16 in the early 90s. Making passable fake ID using proof of age card leaflets and letraset letter transfers, or youth hostel association membership cards, as a failsafe which often worked when the bouncers could be bothered to check. They only used to check if they'd heard there was going to be a police raid.

Pubs/bars from 7pm, clubbing from 10.30/11pm.

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Anxious_wank@reddit

I find it hard to believe it only began in year 10 onwards. It was happening from Yr 9 around me.

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itsheadfelloff@reddit

Nappy nights!

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Norman_debris@reddit

I remember going to Syndicate in Blackpool after my last GCSE exam.

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Yup, pub every weekend Friday and Saturday and then occasionally clubbing.

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abracadabrabeef@reddit

Yup, had major hangovers in double English most Friday mornings.

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Vivid_Reflection6292@reddit

I was going to outdoor illegal raves in Nottingham aged 15. They were probably the best nights of my life. Obviously I didn't need id for them but I'm sure I got served my first drink at 13.

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franki-pinks@reddit (OP)

Haha same we were probably at the same raves!

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readitreddit240@reddit

I had 15 year school mates going to nightclubs in 2012. They seemed to have no bother getting in from what I remember. I think some brought IDs of siblings or a friend that looked similar.

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DungeonCrawler-Donut@reddit

Yeah I was clubbing whilst doing my GCSEs and A Levels. Pubs also didn't ID us, we were in there every evening after college (doing GCSEs) aged 15-17. As long as we spent money and caused no problems they were fine.

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arenaross@reddit

Are college parties at the local nightclub still a thing?

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