A HOODED graffiti gang ran wild in a busy Camden Town street on Friday night, throwing bottles and smashing a pub window, writes Richard Osley.
The teenage mob was stopped in its tracks when door staff at the Dublin Castle in Parkway alerted police to the trail of destruction – but the incident has heightened fears that youth gangs are operating in the area again.
Just two weeks ago, hordes of rampaging youths caused panic during a terrifying pitched battle with cannabis dealers in nearby Inverness Street.
The latest disorder has prompted Dublin Castle landlord Henry Conlon to call for extra measures to deal with the worst troublemakers.
After a series of disturbances, the music pub and other businesses in the street have been handed emergency radio handsets with a hotline to officers.
Bouncers buzzed for help at around 11pm on Friday after a youth from a 15-strong gang – who included boys and girls – smashed a front window.
Earlier, the teenagers, who wore baseball caps and hooded tops and were thought to be aged about 15, had been spotted guzzling cans of lager and bumper-sized bottles of cider in surrounding streets.
They were also spotted scrawling graffiti on walls with felt markers and kicking the front window of an off-licence.
Dublin Castle landlord Henry Conlon said: “We sent three VHS tapes of CCTV footage to the police so they can find out who these kids are.
“There is a problem and maybe there should be a curfew. As it is a high-crime area, it would be for their own safety to be inside by about 10pm. Something has to be done.”
Mr Conlon’s door staff were taunted by the teenagers after bouncers asked them to stop drawing on shop fronts.
He added: “We haven’t seen these kids before but there is a problem with graffiti in the streets and other teenagers have been causing it.”
His comments bear a chilling similarity to an outburst by opera director Sir Jonathan Miller two years ago when he said Camden Town was plagued by “feral youths”.
His street, Gloucester Crescent, was targeted by maverick graffiti mobs.
The latest gang returned to the front of the Dublin Castle twice before police arrived and arrested one boy. He is thought to have had a bleeding hand where he had smashed the pub window.
Mr Conlon said: “It is good that we have the radios because it means police can be here as quickly as possible.”
A police spokesman said no charges had been brought but confirmed that officers were scanning CCTV images supplied by the pub to identify possible offenders.
He said: “An investigation is going on. We sent six officers to the scene.”