to go into bars.

That is the excuse of men spotted on the waterfront at St. George's this week who were drinking in full view of visitors.

Complaints by local store owners that the men drink, smoke drugs and urinate in public, were reported in The Royal Gazette .

But one of the men on Somers Wharf said, despite the drinking, they were not bothering anyone.

The man, who asked not to be named, said a lot of people find quiet corners to drink beer, but he has never seen any one smoking cannabis.

He said: "A lot of people are now rolling their own cigarettes because it is cheaper to smoke that way. People could mistake it for drugs I suppose, but it is not.

"In fact, we have been approached by tourists asking to buy drugs but we do not have any.

"We buy our beers and find a quiet corner to take a drink. It is better than having to drink in our homes because at least we are out and are able to speak to our friends.

"It does not just happen in St. George's and there will be more people out having a beer in summer.'' The man, who works part-time, said that people could not afford to go into bars because of the price of liquor. He said: "I can go to a bar and buy two beers and it will cost me $6. If I buy from a liquor store I could get four or five beers for that.

"We get a group together and give someone the money to buy the beer. We always make sure that the beer is in a brown paper bag so that it is not obvious that we are drinking.

"Sometimes we even use a straw so that people passing by believe we are drinking juice or soda. We agree that the image of St. George's is important.'' The man said liquor was never consumed openly by his friends and they did not bother other people, especially visitors.

He said: "Sometimes the Police will turn a blind eye if we are using the paper bags to drink out of. We do not cause any trouble.

"Actually some of the tourists seem to enjoy talking to us when we are sitting on the wharf.

"The majority of us do have jobs and we are just getting a little relaxation in our quiet corner before we have to go to work.

"We face a Catch-22 situation. I think a good idea would be to make certain areas of parks to be available to people who want to have a drink, as long as they tidy up after themselves.''