Here in the UK, they’re talking about extending drinking hours — significantly. Currently, in something of a layover from WW2, pubs close at 11pm. Apparently they figured with people primarily occupied with the business of building munitions, letting them drink until the early hours of the morning wasn’t such a good plan. The result, over time, is a massive binge-drinking culture. People go out and start drinking heavily from the outset, so many are falling-down-drunk by 11pm. It’s not pretty.
The current government proposals will allow not just the current late opening (clubs etc can apply for a special licence to stay open until 2am), but 24 hour drinking. They claim that this is going to fix the binge-drinking culture, by promoting more of a continental cafe culture. I almost burst out laughing at my desk when I saw this retort this morning from a judge concerned that the extra drinking hours will just increase violent crime:
“Continental-style drinking requires continental-style people – people who sit quietly chatting away at cafe tables.”
He said British drinking involved “standing up, shouting at each other in crowded bars, trying to consume gallons of beer at a time”. Source
Comments (6) Permalink
August 10th, 2005 at 11:37 PM
From a personal viewpoint…I grew up with easy access to alcohol. Being half-Jewish,
I’ve been drinking Mogan David since I was a little kid. I was introduced to beer by my
Dad and his friends at the racetrack when I was 13. Alcohol was never off limits. But my
consumption was supervised (my parents were usually present).
By the time I hit drinking age…it was really no big deal.
So, the concept of 24 hour drinking intrigues me. But I wonder how long it would take
to change a person who had already developed a tendency for binge drinking.
August 11th, 2005 at 12:54 AM
I thought that was pretty funny when I read it this morning.
August 11th, 2005 at 10:50 PM
LOL. You can always rely on a judge ro cut throguh the BS and say something pithy. I think this whole debate is a very tough one for the UK, and probably for a lot of other countires who are just choosing not to have it right now. IMO eventually 24 hr trading would be a good thing, because there would no longer be the need to get as much down your throat before 11pm as you could. Also, at least here in Austalia, a lot of the trouble happens at closing time, when large numbers pour into the streets together. At least here though closing time is more like midnight, 1 o’clock, depending on the pub, so the numbers are not quite so large, if that makes sense?
I think what the police etc would be concerned about though wouldbe the “transiational period”, where people still drink like there’s no tomorrow, up till 11 o’clock, but then continue on “because they can”.
One thing: do you guys still have that crazy thing where the pubs close for a few hours on Sunday afternoon? Now *that* was silly 🙂
August 16th, 2005 at 3:58 PM
The whole ’24-hour licensing’ aspect is a bit of a red herring, certainly at the moment (although reading certain newspapers you’d think that all pubs are going to be offering round-the-clock leeriness from the word go).
What’s actually happening is that, as part of their license applications, establishments must state what hours they intend to open; they’re no longer limited to applying for pub hours. Licensing approvals are now moving from magistrates to local authorities, so (in theory at least) councils would be able to take the needs of the whole area into account.
As a result, I gather that most venues that are renewing their licenses to the new scheme have either applied for the same hours as previous, or have applied for extensions on specific days (e.g., opening longer on public holidays), where previously such extensions would have required separate applications. In all, I think the new licensing scheme is far more sensible than some sectors of the press is allowing, but then there’s no change there!
A bigger concern is that, with the unified alcohol & entertainment licensing under this new scheme, the application form runs to some 20 pages of incredibly complex bureaucratese, and application fees are quite large. This is making it harder for small venues to have the confidence that their application is drawn up properly. There are other concerns regarding theatres that, again, the mainstream press hasn’t really touched upon.
August 24th, 2005 at 11:50 AM
I’m looking forward to deciding when I want to go home – as a prospective teacher I would like to be able to stay out late-ish with my teacher friends during summer evenings when we don’t have to go to work the next day! And I don’t want that pleasure taken from me just because some other yobs (and probably a lot of pupils too, but hey) can’t control themselves. It’s the nanny state debate in yet another form.
I read somewhere last year that research has shown that most fighting outside pubs and clubs occurs (like all conflict) as a result of too many people seeking to use scarce resources – in this case, fast food outlets. In one town (I think it was in Nottinghamshire) there was only one pizza joint serving a whole row of bars. Every Friday and Saturday there were fights as people waited around for food. So the local police did two things:
1. Had a chat with the pizza place and encouraged them to pre-cook a lot of pizzas so that they could serve the initial rush more quickly.
2. Asked them to round their prices up to full pounds rather than £x.95 so that there was no waiting around for change.
3. Had the council offer a space to a burger van to take up some of the excess demand.
They found that violent incidents went down very significantly indeed, and the area cleared a lot earlier, so the noise was less of a problem for local residents.
Hopefully staggered leaving times will reduce this kind of issue everywhere. And big common sense points to the local police who made the moves above!
Then again that transitional period someone mentioned is going to be a nightmare…and I’m not even ruling out the odd “poorly Lucy day” myself….British binge drinking is by NO MEANS limited to only a few groups in society – we’re all at it.
Meri you must be feeling smug you sensible teetotaller you…knowing you’ll avoid it all….
August 24th, 2005 at 1:02 PM
To be honest, my primary thought is “Should I go back to being a bouncer?”. New laws mean that the registration is now £190 (quite a hefty chunk of cash!), but I imagine with all joints open after 11 needing door staff, demand might increase and so hourly rates. Equally, in the transition period I think that it could be much more of a dangerous job than it used to be!