Around Halloween when so many venues held sold out events, what are they doing to ensure the safety of their patrons from spiking?
The Bullingdon on the Cowley Road notes that one of the biggest struggles is getting people to leave their own night out to help friends in need. General manager Paul Williams notes that “We have trouble getting people to go with their friends.
“We now run a policy that stops people coming back in until their friends have been safely helped.”
U-Test, a UK based company providing rapid at home test kits and spiking statistics states that nearly a million UK adults believe their drink was spiked in 2025 and that over 50 per cent of these take place in bars and clubs.
The Cowley Road is a bustling area with a high student population and a hot spot for student nights out. Spiking should be a serious concern for these local establishments.
On their popular Wednesday night ‘Fishies’ the O2 Academy on the Cowley Road provides spiking prevention drinks covers, but are other pubs along the road providing the same safety measures?
The general consensus seems to be that staff training is essential. The Cowley Retreat, Bullingdon and The Library all said that their staff was trained to spot the signs of spiking and to handle the situation. However, how they handle these situations was not as consistent.
The Bullingdon general manager stated that they work closely with the local council and who also provide them with testing kits. The Bullingdon encourages people who think they have been spiked to go to hospital and contact the police. They also provide the payment needed for a taxi to do so alongside their policy to ensure friends help, hoping this will encourage people to seek help.
The Cowley Retreat manager, Hakeel, stated that they provide staff training and encourage people to inform staff if they feel that something is wrong. They also say they can help people who do go to police by providing them with CCTV footage.
He also said that if people asked that they had the same spiking prevention drinks covers available as those used by the O2 Academy.
However, The Cowley Retreat does not clearly signpost this and when asked to provide them, they had none in stock, right before Halloween weekend, one of the busiest nights for the area.
Oxford Brookes student Amelie Price said: “I never leave my drink unattended, unless it’s with a close friend.
“It’s kind of scary that there’s needle spiking now.”
Clearly this is something that students are thinking about on a night out and make efforts to protect themselves from. However, Stamp Out Spiking, a UK-wide charity that works with the Oxford City Council notes that “Drink spiking is a hugely under-reported problem,” with 97 per cent of spiking’s going unreported.
Oxford City Council states that “Thames Valley Police and local partners have run a number of anti-spiking campaigns in the Oxford night time economy.
“Particularly around the city centre and Cowley Road and student venues.”
They added that this was most likely as they are the “more high risk areas.”
Stamp Out Spiking notes that most drugs leave the body within 72 hours of being taken, and with GHB, a common drug used in spiking within 12 hours, so its important to be tested as soon as possible.
For those seeking support you can reach out to Stamp Out Spiking at victimsupport.org.uk/live-chat.
