Manchester Council trys to tame stag parties

The next time a group of British lager louts descends on Prague for a weekend of rowdy drinking, one local UK government hopes they will listen to a little advice on how to behave. The Manchester City Council plans to draw up a list of recommendations advising British travelers to other European cities, particularly Prague, on how they should act. Something of a code of conduct, the list will include suggestions about personal safety, such as minding your wallet, responsible drinking, and what City Councilor Keith Whitmore called "personal dignity."

"It's not exactly dignified if you can't remember what you're doing," said Whitmore, who proposed the idea.

However, some boozing British travelers in Prague aren't convinced a government-issued list would change their behavior and questioned why Manchester should have a say in their weekend activities.

"People will do whatever they want to do," said Paul Forrest, 31, who arrived from Sheffield, England, for his friend's stag party last weekend, kicking off the festivities at Rocky O'Reilly's. "We've already got a bad reputation."

The British government is aggressively trying to shake that reputation. About a year ago, Prime Minister Tony Blair cautioned that binge drinking could become the "new British disease," and the government has since issued a plan for curbing the habit.

In a recent meeting, the Manchester City Council's social strategy committee vowed to determine just how much this drinking problem seeps beyond the borders to other European cities. Prague became the natural first step, since budget airlines have made weekend trips from the UK highly affordable, luring more Brits for jaunts of binge drinking and tomfoolery.

"There has been an increase in hen and stag parties and drinking too much and getting into trouble and giving the British a rather bad name abroad," Whitmore said. "Prague is certainly one of the cities that has suffered."