New York City Travel Forum

Hi,

I am travelling to New York city this Thursday with five friends (we all live together at university in London) and we are really looking forward to being keen tourists for 4 nights! Five on us are aged 19 and one 20 so here in England we are used to having a glass of wine with dinner or few drinks in the evening but I read that the drinking age is 21 in the states.

My question is… is this law strictly enforced – are we really not going to get any alcohol during our stay? Also although in the UK 8 is the drinking age, at 16 you can have a drink with a meal – will we be able to drink with meals? If it is the case that you can’t buy alcohol at 20 or 19, are there any bars where you can?

Many thanks in advance for your time and replies,

Pete

New York's actually one of the more strictly-enforced places for 21+ in my experience. I wouldn't count on drinking.

In general the age restrictions are very strictly enforced, particularly in small neighborhood stores and popular youth-oriented bars where there are inspectors and the penalties are great for those who serve the underaged. About the only place you MIGHT get served is in very upscale restaurants, very very upscale.

It will be strictly enforced. The only way around this when I was in school was to have someone who was over 21 buy the bottles and bring them home to drink there.

Thanks everyone - I'm sure we will cope for a few days!

Now in NYC if you induce someone to buy liquor for you, as an underaged person, that is a crime and punishable for all concerned.

That's pretty much true everywhere (that buying alcohol for an underage person is a crime). Even if they are the parents of the underage persons. When I was in school myself, after I turned 21, they used to send me off to get the alcohol for parties, but I'd have been in deep trouble if anyone had found out.

The people who sell are VERY wary because the police do sting operations where they send in an underage cadet. There's a big fine and they may take the liquor license away if they actually sell it to them.

welcome to VT, Pete - sorry to have to give you this bad news.

unfortunately i agree with all here. the only place i have seen lax carding in the city is at small convenience stores/delis where you can buy some to carry out. i honestly wonder many times if they care at all. good luck!

Many bars in NYC also set their own age limit.many bars I have been to in NYC are 23 and over.G

You'll probably have a very hard time getting alcohol, although not nearly as hard as you will elsewhere in the US. Shoot for the Greenwich Village area, where plenty of underage Europeans go to school at NYU.

Hey,

I'm 20 years old, so I face the same problem. Most bars, restaurants, clubs, liquor stores check for id. So what do you do...invest in a fake id. A couple of my friends have fakes from England, so they must be around there. Mine comes from Texas, but look into it. International ids are always easier because they can't swipe or black light them, where as ones in the US, many clubs now swipe and/or use the black light test, so make sure they are equipped with those features.