Now then sir, just move along quietly please, doesn't enter in their vocabularies I am sure.

Given the total disrespect for our nice British policemen, I would also prefer order to be kept by men with guns, water cannon and teargas if necessary, not a little baton.

Holiday companies are really pushing the Algarve because it is cheap for Brits and seen as safer than Egypt, Turkey, Tunisia etc. The fad will pass once the profiteering starts and hotels etc push up their prices.

What can the authorities realistically do? They can suggest to people like MGM that licencing may be delayed a bit, but people like MGM are very rich and have good lawyers. They can suggest that hotels don't take large group bookings at weekends, but that is all they can do - suggest it.

Another part of the problem is that the "limited number of outlets" are owned by people who are very influential in a small town like Albufeira. 

As I wrote earlier in the thread, unfortunately the families simply don't spend enough, too many on all inclusive deals or tight budgets (through no fault of their own, I understand that). For bars and restaurants to stay open, they need more than Julie, Steve and the two kids coming in once during their stay and having burger and chips and a couple of drinks.

The one thing that can be done is that when drunken behaviour does occur, it gets dealt with swiftly by the police. But they cannot be everywhere.