For someone who's been out for a night on the tiles and has found themselves in trouble leaving the club or pub, having had one too many drinks or got into a fight, the street pastors are Kingston’s own local heroes.

Never far from the scene, they provide a watchful eye and a helping hand to those in crisis.

I met them at 9.45pm at the United Reform Church in the centre of Kingston.

Tonight there will be four street pastors and two prayer pastors. The street pastors are the public face of the operation and they are supported and aided by the prayer pastors whose job it is to stay inside the church and pray for the peace and wellbeing of everyone involved in tonight’s shenanigans.  

Tracey, the leader of tonight's group, is a large friendly blonde lady with slick designer specs, a broad smile and a heart of gold.

She leads a youth group at church on Sundays, does her duty as a street pastor once or twice a month, and in the week she runs her own care home.

“I used to be one of them kids” - she says, “I studied nursing at Kingston University, and I was out on the town three nights a week, drinking vodka, drinking beer - you name it. When Paul told me about his intentions to start a chapter in Kingston ten years ago. I thought to myself 'That's a bus I wanna be on', I just wanted to help”.

And help she has. Tonight's mission is to keep a watchful eye on the streets by TK Maxx, next to McClusky's nightclub. Darren, an Inspector at Kingston Police Station has already informed her of an alleged rape near the shop earlier tonight by an unlicensed taxi-driver, and that they will have four Police Community Support Officers (PCSOs) keeping watch.

One of the pastors, Paul, reminds the group that it is the end of the month, payday has come and that the punters are already out in force.

He is cautious yet still upbeat. They discuss a local club which had its licence revoked in the last few weeks and wonder if it will be open tonight.

According to the Street Pastors, crime has gone down 40 per cent in the last year in Kingston, and the pastors, the police and the local council together have played a major role in making the area safer.

The relationship is referred to as the ‘Trinity Partnership’ and between them they co-ordinate a diverse array of initiatives like ‘Pubwatch’ and ‘Behave or Be Banned’ (B.O.B.B.) which ensure that the night-time economy functions smoothly in the area. In addition the pastors have been awarded money by the local police station in recognition of their work and to help them cover their expenses.

Graciea, a softly spoken pastor with a wry smile says: “If you wanna see faith in action, hang out with the Street Pastors. What we do is amazing. Violence just melts away. Problems are solved within seconds or minutes as soon as we arrive. We maintain total independence and the police respect us because they've seen what we can do.”

After a prayer session, the street pastors depart from the church leaving their counterparts behind to venture onto the streets.

We walk calmly around the streets for half hour, picking up bottles as we go, “The police ask us to pick them up, but the problem is, there’s nowhere to put them” Paul points out, “We’ve talked to the local council and asked them to put more bottle banks on the street, but they haven’t done anything”.

Outside Ananda’s, a couple of merry girls approach us, break into huge smiles and hug Tracey enthusiastically. Apparently this is common, as Tracey explains to me later: “I love bringing people laughter,” she says enthusiastically, “We do a lot of cuddling. One girl I hugged for half an hour, told me that I hugged her better than her mum!”

We stop for a while and talk to Mr. Moon, a local derelict who lies on the street outside TK Maxx every weekend.

“He was a chronic alcoholic,” Tracey says, “ He was told he’d have to stop drinking or he’d be dead in a month. We helped find him a home and got him a stove and a TV. He’s been sober for a year now, and now he sells shirts to kids outside McCluskey’s”.

Mr. Moon himself is philosophical about it all. Though Tracey tells me they’d once found him covered in urine after some boys had decided to relieve themselves over him, he is still terribly gentle and very friendly by nature.

He remarks to me that all of this drinking and fighting is ‘human nature’ and that it cannot be helped.

“Every week the police come” he says, “But nothing ever changes. We are animals”.

“Its not just the young people either”

“Its not just the young people either” says Andy, “When I worked up in Town, it was mostly middle aged men who were saying “It’s gonna be amazing tonight, I’m gonna get completely slaughtered”.

There are 19 clubs and night-time bars in Kingston, some of which support the pastors financially.

The manager for the King’s Tun says of the pastors: “They’ve been a fantastic help for the last two and a half years,” before proceeding to explain how CCTV, the taxi wardens, the police, and bouncers and the pastors are all co-ordinated during big incidents. “One time we had to wait for an hour and a half for a ambulance to turn up because there was a big incident on the A2 and the emergency services were all tied up. At times like that the pastor’s help is invaluable.”

As we pass Barcadia, a fight kicks off. A DJ has been refused entry, and he decides that its time to start attacking the bouncer. Things quickly spiral out of control.  For some reason I’m expecting the presence of the pastors to ensure that the violence will melt away. It doesn’t though, and the Police arrive minutes later to sort things out.  

This doesn’t mean that the pastors are somehow redundant or helpless in difficult situations. Less than an hour later they are all collectively demonstrating what they can do.

A girl has passed out on the steps of a local church, and is having an epileptic fit. Tracey knows what to do immediately, holding her tight and keeping her from bruising herself on the concrete.  She also wraps her in an emergency blanket whilst Paul calls the ambulance. Graceia and Andy talk to her friends to ascertain who she is and if she’s taken any drugs tonight.

After the paramedics wheel her away, we do a last walk around town, picking up more broken bottles and counselling the waifs and strays who’ve had one too many. It is a quiet night, but a very informative one.

“The pastors are doing a magnificent job"

“Kingston is a very middle-class place, but it does have this odd schizophrenia at night-times.” says Ian, manager of the King’s Tun: “The pastors are doing a magnificent job, they help to provide care and stability in a community which is badly out of touch with itself”.