British pub closing time still too early
It seems incredible to me that in this day and age we British still clung to some crazy law for so long that was introduced during the war to prevent factory workers from drinking too much the night before and then not being fit to work with the munitions in the morning. The pub opening times aren't as bad as they used to be but so many bars still close at 11 O'Clock, purely because it's not worth their while staying open any later.
Getting a late licence isn't exactly easy and the unfortunate thing is these restrictions probably play some part in the tide of antisocial behaviour that sweeps our cities each night around 11 or 12 O'Clock. Drunken yobs that have been on a booze binge fighting, urinating in doorways, messing the place up with discarded takeaway food etc. As well as not being pleasant to see, this also puts a huge strain on various public services. With all this going on, who would want to work in the police force or in the casualty department of a hospital on a weekend?
I think that relaxed licensing hours and making it easier for pubs to get a late licence could help ease this problem. Instead of spending an absolute fortune each year on hospitals and policing each year the government could be raking in millions of pounds in extra tax as well as creating a more continental environment for tourists that visit the country.
What do the French, Italians or even the Americans think about our pubs?
There's another point I'd like to bring up. Why is the average price of a pint of beer in British pubs climbing through the roof every where you go these days? I remember when I were a lad (not really!), you could get a pint of ale in almost any pub for a pound and some loose change, enough for a packet of crisps to go with it. Even a pound was was considered expensive by some of the older people in the pubs that I used to frequent. I wonder what they would think now...
At the rate we are going I reckon it will pretty soon be normal to pay 4, 5 or more for a pint of beer and by the year 2020 it is likely that that will be more than a tenner(or the equivalent in euros if that's what we are using by then!). I just wish the government would stand behind the traditional British pub and see it for what it is, a great focal point for our communities and one that is sadly starting to become extinct.
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luke franklin - 1-Feb-11 13:41
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You make a pint for around 30-50p (Used to be a great amount less, but that's what you get when America is buying up every grain for eco-friendly fuel.)
Then you need the money for what you need to sell it :-
Rent and council tax on a pub is around 3x a normal house
Electricity is 3x a domestic rate
Water is also 3x a domestic rate
There are tons of pipes from the cellar to the bar and they can cost anywhere between 6grand to 22grand to set up.
Oh and dont forget the measly wages since most bar tenders work for minium wage.
So imagine if a pub was open those few more hours, you wouldn't even break even with the cost of electricity and water and wages.
But hey, what am I saying, I could do with a few extra shifts.
And Rat, you can take it home. But its illegal to drink on the street and the pub would be providing an open vessel.
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I Have just bought a bottle of wine from a local pub.Half finished it but was told I could not take it home out the premises . I said Its mine I bought IT so now if it belongs to me and is not in a pubs glass I can Take it home ? Help and comments please...
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Gainsborough lad. - 18-Sep-09 22:28
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to be honest I think pubs should only let people drink a limited amount of beer/wine .
there is youths everywhere getting slaughtered which is also not a pleasant site.
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As someone suffering from "pub blight" in the property sales market, why doesn't Bully Brown tax these out of existence and do us all a favour!
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It was a great day when smoking was banned, it will be a great day when pubs are closed down and this is coming.
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Marjorie Hornby, Great Chester - 23-Oct-07 16:19
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inflatable doll - don't think it's just due to inflation. There's been a lot of increases on alcohol over last 10 years or more. Most of it is due to tax - but the large breweries have a knack of just upping the increases a tad more than necessary....ie they cover the tax increase, but there's also a smidgen extra for themselves!
Okay, gonna stop my griping now.
All I will say is that, having spent a bit of time drinking in France & Germany, why is it that we make such a big issue over here of 24hr drinking...It's not about the fact we'll drink for 24hrs, but we'll be able to drink at any point during a 24hr period and therefore be that much more relaxed about the whole thing! We're stuck in the dark ages...
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Just spent an evening in my local pub (The Bedford, Horsham, West Sussex), now extremely pished off coz the bar ladies were intent on kicking us out before 11.20 becuse they were dead keen on getting to their other assignations. To add insult to injury, we know the clock in the pub is 5 minutes fast...
One of them very smugly informed us that, thanks to the new changes in the law, they were perfectly within their rights to kick us out by 11.20. That's great, given that, between 3 of us, we've just soent over £50 in the damn place and, no sooner than it gets a few seconds past 11.00pm (10.55pm!!) we're being shouted at to 'drink up'!!!
Was intererested in checking up on the law, hence why I ended up on this website.
Have looked at a couple of the messages on the board, and this is my carefully considered opinion: to be continued...
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