Drinking-and-smoking area opens for city's homeless

A drinking and smoking 'garden' has been built at a homeless shelter in Oxford in a bid to tackle antisocial behaviour.

The Oxford Night Shelter has created a yard at its Luther Street base for the homeless to drink and smoke off the streets.

Eight years ago, the shelter introduced a ‘wet room’ – an area where alcohol is allowed. But the smoking ban – introduced in July 2007 – meant users were forced to go outside into a designated no-drinking zone if they wanted to smoke, and antisocial behaviour became a problem. Now a walled area with benches, ashtrays and outside lights, which is big enough for about 20 people, has been completed.

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