York is a Jekyll and Hyde city

By day, now that it is summer, the pavements and squares of the city centre are filled with tables and chairs, round which sit families and groups of tourists and shoppers, having a drink and a bite to eat as they rest from the serious business of sight-seeing and shopping.

They are generally well behaved and take their time to savour our city's culinary delights, a positive advertisement to the benefits of being one of the most popular cities in Britain. They come here because of our beautiful buildings, attractions, budget hotels and excellent rail connections.

By night, when the tables have been cleared away, the streets become the stamping ground of racegoers and hen and stag parties, intent on their version of a good time, which involves consuming as much alcohol as possible.

Generally, they are not as well-behaved and as the night wears on, the CCTV cameras record more and more people weaving from side to side, taking offence at anything or hitting out. The sensible person on a night out calls a halt by 11pm. After then, who knows what you will encounter on the streets or in the bars of York city centre.

The night clubbers too are drawn to York by the beautiful buildings, attractions, budget hotels and excellent rail connections. Bars are bars everywhere, but if you are choosing a destination for a riotous trip out, it's easier to explain it to parents/partners if you say you are going to visit York and let them think you are interested in culture rather than getting drunk.

I once found myself sitting next to a fledgling stag party on a train between Newcastle and York. They had already started drinking and were plotting various indignities for the bridegroom, whom they had deliberately arranged to sit in a different carriage. They pressed me for information about the wilder attractions of York to incorporate in their plotting. Goodness only knows what they finally settled on, but I can guarantee you it didn't involve a leisurely drink in the sun or alfresco meal in St Sampson's Square.

Maybe it should have done.

Binge drinking is not entirely a British invention, but there are plenty of countries just across the Channel where getting drunk is seen as a disgrace rather than a successful night out. These are the same countries where the cafe culture, such as we see in York by day, is deeply embedded.

When I worked in Italy, I was stunned to learn that the natural place for a coffee was the local pub. Having grown up during an era where bar staff regarded you as some form of six-legged lowlife if you asked for a coffee, I was delighted to learn it was socially acceptable for a group to spend hours talking in a pub and everyone to emerge sober.

Then came the coffee shop revolution and faced with the loss of trade to the baristas, English bar staff changed their attitude and now most pubs have a coffee machine. Some even have a menu of hot drinks.

Meanwhile the success of the Cafe Quartier in Swinegate has persuaded any pub, restaurant and cafe that has a reasonably-sized paved space in front of its front door of the absolute need to fill it with tables and chairs. To many of our continental visitors, it must seem like a home from home - until the night culture kicks in.

If only we could extend the daytime cafe culture into the night and persuade the hen and stag party-goers and the racegoers that the amount you socialise is more important than the amount of alcohol you drink.