This comment doesn't deserve the downvotes, it's a very valid point.

Is it really that bad? Is there something I can read to learn more?

> Is it really that bad?

I say this as someone who quite enjoys his drink–you haven't seen a hardcore drinking culture until you've dodged multiple projectile vomiters in SoHo at like 5PM on a random Tuesday.

I somehow managed to avoid experiencing this despite living in the UK up to the age of 34.

I'm a bit late responding on my own sub-thread, but if you haven't seen these photos before, this is roughly what every city centre in the UK looks like after dark. https://www.maciejdakowicz.com/cardiff-after-dark/

Not Havant, though I was there to 18 and would've only had the independence to examine the nightlife for the two years in which I was doing my A-levels; not Aberystwyth as a university student, nor Plymouth city in my industrial year even though I lived here: https://www.google.com/maps/place/Capitol+Students+Central+P...

Likewise, Cambridge was far too genteel for that, when I lived there.

Sheffield managed one night that would've fitted in with those pictures. When my partner and I walked past the football stadium as everyone was leaving.

Very surprised you never saw this in Plymouth!