EXCLUSIVE The man on a mission to keep Cornish beach for the locals: Ranger’s night-time patrols turns the tide on public school teens’ drug-fuelled parties

• EXCLUSIVE: Children of some of wealthy families descended on town this month
• Their beach parties turn it into an orgy of drugs, vandalism and underage sex

Residents of Polzeath, one of the most popular seaside villages in Cornwall, are breathing a sigh of relief after a crackdown on teen parties that turned the beach into an orgy of drugs, vandalism and underage sex.

Every year citizens in the beautiful village on the north Cornish coast grit their teeth for the first few weeks of July as the children of some of the country’s wealthiest families descend on them after private schools break up.

Bearing the brunt of it this year has been Beach Ranger Andy Stewart, 53, who has been patrolling the beach nightly with two local cops and security staff from the Surfside restaurant trying to manage the hoards of public school kids, many as young as 12, who flock there to party.

And his efforts seem to have worked.

Andy, a retired local police officer who started as a Beach Ranger in 2019, confirmed ‘the problems have eased and there is no more ongoing monitoring or enforcement’.

Residents of Polzeath (pictured), one of the most popular seaside villages in Cornwall, are breathing a sigh of relief after a crackdown on teen parties that turned the beach into an orgy of drugs, vandalism and underage sex

Bearing the brunt of it this year has been Beach Ranger Andy Stewart (pictured), 53, who has been patrolling the beach nightly with two local cops

He previously told the Daily Mail he was most shocked by the amount of teens having sex in public this year.

He added: ‘I didn’t notice it last year – maybe because we were so busy dealing with the overt criminality and we didn’t have floodlights or cameras.

‘They are just way too young. One sweep of the torch and you can see kids having sex.’

Infra-red cameras deployed for the first time this year caught images of hundreds of teens gathering after dark on the beach while locals and volunteer litter pickers have reported regularly finding alcohol containers, plastic drug bags, used condoms and underwear in recent weeks.

This week – with the state school summer holidays underway – the beach was a very different picture with young children playing in the surf and families relaxing on the sand. As the sun set the beach quickly emptied.

One of the last to leave was retired BT engineer Bob Keeling, 78, who – in stark contrast to the privileged teens – spends hours every evening picking up litter.

Bob, who has been coming to Polzeath for 40 years and spends around nine weeks a year in the village, said: ‘We always have trouble with them when we come down. Their attitude is they don’t care what they do because daddy will pay for it.

‘People who run the campsites try to stop them staying because of the trouble they cause but they book under false names.

‘They cause a lot of trouble stealing people’s gates and burning them – but it’s just for the two weeks when private schools break up early.

‘The whole village breathes a sigh of relief when they leave and go to the Caribbean.’

Infra-red cameras deployed for the first time this year caught images of hundreds of teens gathering after dark on the beach (picture from 17 July this year)

More teenagers were captured by infra-red cameras on Polzeath beach on the evening of the 24th July 2023 as the summer holidays bring underage parties on the beach

There is a sign on the edge of the beach informing people that it is being monitered by CCTV

Locals and volunteer litter pickers have reported regularly finding alcohol containers, plastic drug bags, used condoms and underwear in recent weeks

A group of school kids pictured sat on the beach in front a fire earlier this week

Bins were left overflowing after residents cleared up the rubbish left by teens on the beach

Coke cans and other bits of rubbish were left discarded in the car park adjacent to the beach

There is a sign warning beach goers that the area is an alcohol restricted zone 

A pair of Calvin Klein plants were among the items left strewn across the beach by the teens

A Pimm’s can was left opened sitting on the sand after the teens, some of whom are beleived to have been underage, spent a night partying on the beach

Bob Keeling, 78, spends hours every evening picking up litter left on the beach by teens

Gina Rowe, 85, a lifelong Polzeath resident who walks her dog along the beach every day, said: ‘I blame the parents. They rent these huge houses along the cliff and we see them coming down and dropping their children off in their 4X4s and they will unload cases of alcohol to take onto the beach, they are clearly underage.

‘It has been going on for years. It starts in early July and just gets worse from there then all of a sudden they are all gone and things go back to normal.’

At the Galleon Beach Café on Polzeath beach, workers Cicely Winkley, Mollie Eddy and Kenda Armitage say they can spot the public school kids a mile off.

Cicely, 19, who is working her first season said: ‘They are like a different community where they all know each other and they all dress the same in Tom’s Trunks and linen trousers.

‘As soon as they walk in the door we know who they are and they never say please or thank you which really surprised me.’

Mollie, 21, added: ‘You also notice them because they walk in large groups down the middle of the road.

‘I do find the floodlights and cameras uncomfortable, fair enough they want to see what people are doing but I grew up around here and we didn’t have that when I was young.’

Kendra, 21, who lives locally and is working in Polzeath for her eighth summer, said: ‘They certainly help businesses in the town but they know that and I think there is an arrogance about ‘we are spending this much money so we can do what we want’.

‘It is sad there is this attitude and antisocial behaviour – we don’t want people to do anything dangerous.

‘But I have never had a problem with anybody – they are probably more scared of us than we are of them.’

At the Galleon Beach Café on Polzeath beach, workers Cicely Winkley, Mollie Eddy and Kenda Armitage say they can spot the public school kids a mile off

Chris Reynolds, 35, and Louise Marshall, 33, from Wiltshire arrived for a family holiday after the deceptively named ‘snog week’ ended

Gina Rowe, 85, a lifelong Polzeath resident who walks her dog along the beach every day, said she blames the parents of the children attending parties on the beach

Gina said the parents rent huge houses along the cliff and drop their children off on the beach with hugs cases of alcohol 

Some of the century-old Cornish homes in Polzeath are being demolished and replaced with American-style glass and render homes and a tiny three-bed cottage sells for more than £1million

While wealthy young people have been visiting Polzeath for decades. Locals say there has been a shift since Covid where families had little option but to Staycation in the UK.

Century-old Cornish homes are being demolished and replaced with American-style glass and render homes and a tiny three-bed cottage sells for more than £1million.

Chris Reynolds, 35, and Louise Marshall, 33, from Wiltshire arrived for a family holiday after the deceptively named ‘snog week’ ended.

Louise said: ‘I’ve been coming here with my family for 24 years. We love it because it’s chilled, the beach is beautiful, there’s a nice vibe and lots of places you can grab food.’

Chris added: ‘We tend to come at the end of July or early August every year. If there was vandalism and loud music late into the night we would have issues because we have a small child.’

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