Once again, the nation waits with baited breath to see if we'll actually ever relax licensing laws. If nothing else, it'll save us having to buy 15 pints at 10.45 in an effort to get drunk before going back home to the missus.
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Once again, the nation waits with baited breath to see if we'll actually ever relax licensing laws. If nothing else, it'll save us having to buy 15 pints at 10.45 in an effort to get drunk before going back home to the missus.
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Comments
Well, compare the British law to the French one. In France, bars (we call them bars not pubs) closing time varies between regions but is generally between 1 and 2am. The result of this is people who want an early night or who want to use public transport to go back home usually leave around 10pm and only the real party-goers stay until closing time. The result of this is that people will trickle out of bars over a period of 4 to 5 hours, rather than everybody leaving at the same time at 11pm. Also people feel less pressured in drinking up. Result: you have as many drunk people coming out of a French bar than an English pub but they don't all end up on the street at the same time so less drunken fights, less mayhem, less angry residents, etc.
Also, if a closing time of 11pm is meant to reduce drinking, it obviously doesn't work in England: people who really want to get plastered get plastered before 11pm, that's all. If they were allowed to stay longer, they'd still drink the same amount because they just can't drink more than they do already. Your average lagger lout already manages to get so drunk that he passes out in the pub and has to be carried home (or to the closest gutter). Whether this happens at 11pm or 2am doesn't change anything.