Hooligan needs drink, always swallowing bitter (8)
I believe the answer is:
tearaway
'hooligan' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'drink always swallowing bitter' is the wordplay.
'drink' becomes 'tea' (tea is a kind of drink**).
'always' becomes 'ay'.
'swallowing' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'bitter' becomes 'raw'.
'tea'+'ay'='teaay'
'teaay' enclosing 'raw' is 'TEARAWAY'.
'needs' acts as a link.
(Other definitions for tearaway that I've seen before include "unruly character" , "A tough" , "Hothead" , "Delinquent" , "Reckless violent person" .)