Extended Licensing Hours, or, Let's get Para!

[John Self]

From today, pubs and bars in England and Wales can apply for extended licensing hours to open round the clock (or any more moderate extension), which will come into effect from November. The argument in favour of this is that people will 'pace themselves' better if they know they aren't going to get kicked out at 11pm. This is Blair's solution to binge drinking.

I find this odd. In Northern Ireland most bars are open until 1am - the standard licensing hours are to 11pm but late licences are available more or less on request (technically you need to serve food and/or have live entertainment, but this is a rule more honoured in the breach than in the observance) and most bars and pubs take advantage of this. It's always funny to see visitors over from England wondering why everyone isn't lining them up at 10:30pm. The extended licences in Northern Ireland were originally, I believe, a response to prevent people being drawn to paramilitary-run drinking dens.

Anyway. With the majority of licensed premises kicking people out at 1am, you get exactly the same problem in Belfast at that time of a weekend as you do in English cities at 11pm - a cavalcade of drunken numpties vomiting, pissing and fighting in the street. Why does Blair think the kind of people who go out not to have a good time with their mates and have a few drinks but who go out to get drunk, will somehow slow the pace of their drinking because the bar is open for longer? They will just drink more. The notion that bars having different closing hours will stagger the street-filling factor is also mistaken - already there are clubs which stay open until 3am or 5am or even later (or earlier), but even under the new licensing laws these will always be in a minority. I expect that the majority of landlords will extend their hours to between 1am and 3am - which, in Belfast is the time when it's already bedlam on the streets.

Certainly I think 11pm is unreasonably early, but does anyone really think the extension of licensing hours will bring any of the supposed benefits, other than the right to indulge ourselves more? On the other hand, if it increases even by 1% your prospect of getting a goddamn taxi at chucking out time, then it has my vote already.

[amarie]

I can't really see the logic behind this extension malarky. As John says, those who go out to get hammered will just end up drinking even more and probably taking up more A&E resources into the bargain. The majority of people who 'binge drink' aren't suddenly going to stop throwing cheap alcopops down their necks and start pacing themselves just because they've got more time in which to drink.

[amner]

I can't really see the logic behind this extension malarky. As John says, those who go out to get hammered will just end up drinking even more and probably taking up more A&E resources into the bargain. The majority of people who 'binge drink' aren't suddenly going to stop throwing cheap alcopops down their necks and start pacing themselves just because they've got more time in which to drink.

Blair probably thinks we'll be miraculously transformed into a Med-u-like cafe society at the ring of a last orders bell. :roll:

Check out any town centre come midnight-to-2 and you'll see that the falling over zombification of your average discerning late night clientele is far from being altered. People will Just. Go. Out. Later. Presumably after downing an extra bottle of Lambrini or WKD at home anyway. A figure thrown about this morning suggested that 40% of A&E admissions are booze-related. It'll be 60% by this time next year, I gaurantee.

[NottyImp]

A figure thrown about this morning suggested that 40% of A&E admissions are booze-related. It'll be 60% by this time next year, I gaurantee.

Hmmm... I'd be tempted to leave them in the gutter. Not that I didn't get a drunk as a youth myself on occasion, but never so bad I ended up in A&E. What is the attraction?

[gil]

I think we may have to wait a while for the full results of this. Leaving aside, for a moment, the lunatic fringe who are prepared to self-destruct, I am sure that a relaxation of licencing laws will eventually result in a marked improvement in drinking behaviour among the vast majority. I am no wild drinker these days, but I remember that the 10pm closing time and the "bona fide traveller" rules in Scotland in the sixties often found me gulping rather more, rather quicker than I would voluntarily have done, on the basis that the opportunity was going to be snatched away. It takes about 20 minutes for what you've just drunk to hit the brain, by which time it's too late to realise that you have had a couple too many.

Returning to the lunatic fringe... lock 'em up in the cells overnight, try 'em in court the next day, fine 'em heavily, attach their wages, cut their social security, zero tolerance. The snatches on tv I've seen recently show the police patiently shepherding the poor dears to taxis, and arranging a shuttle service to A & E. As long as there's no consequence for bad behaviour, it'll increase. It's not the pubs' fault. They are selling a legal commodity for which there's a demand. Let the drinkers, not the publicans, show some responsibility.

[HP]

I don't think extending licensing hours will wreck the health of those who linger at the bar. A drinker will no doubt have a cupboard full of the stuff at home, anyway. Nah - let those who want to pickle their livers do so to their heart's content and yah boo sucks to the nanny state. However, I do think those of us who don't want to carouse all night should be allowed our peace. The advantage of turfing boozers out on the streets at 11 pm is that most of the noise and kerfuffles are over and done with before sleepyheads have really bedded down for the night. Having inebriated revellers staggering home and disturbing the peace all through the wee small hours is just cruel. Another case of the majority being penalised for the benefit of the minority.

[NottyImp]

Having inebriated revellers staggering home and disturbing the peace all through the wee small hours is just cruel. Another case of the majority being penalised for the benefit of the minority.

I live in a (quiet-ish) residential area, but this could be a real problem for those living on the fringes of city centres.

[bakunin_the_cat]

I don't think it will lead to a responsible cafe culture, people who really want to get rat-arsed will continue to do so. That said for those of us 'limpers who likt to partake of an ale or three in some of the more homely hostelries of Palim City, it can only be a good thing. No longer will the untimely bell of the eleventh watch disturb our discourse. If the players wish to continue of an evening then let it be so. If not then we are still free to return to our particular abodes.

[John Self]

Judges warn (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/4134772.stm)that the new extended drinking hours will inevitably lead to an increase in violent assault and rape.

[crimecat]

There was a quote on the news the other day saying roughly that the hope these extended opening hours would bring about a continental-style drinking culture was vain as it would require continental-style drinkers - which this country doesn't have ... Can anyone explain to me why, in this country, having a good night out means (almost proverbially) "getting drunk, getting a curry, getting laid, not necessarily in this particular order"? More used to said continental-style drinking, I find the drunken spectacles you see on tv and, sadly, on the streets quite disturbing, as well as disgusting. And, no, I am not against getting drunk, not even against getting totally plastered (once in a while) but I pride myself that at least I always retained some sense of self-preservation, if nothing else - when I was too drunk to get home I made sure I fell asleep indoors, on some friend's couch, rather than in the middle of the street. With some of my aquaintances - who go out four or five times a week to get hammered - I have noticed that they seem to have absolutely nothing to say to each other. Coversation is moving with less speed than the pub crawl itself - but once they've got into a nice alcoholic stupor they don't mind anymore and their description the next day is something in the way of "a bit slow at the beginning, but it was alright once everyone got going". Is that the reason for British binge drinking? Get legless so you don't realise you are brainless?

Please, does anyone here have a less depressing explanation?

[John Self]

Can anyone explain to me why, in this country, having a good night out means (almost proverbially) "getting drunk, getting a curry, getting laid, not necessarily in this particular order"?

Wavid, can you answer this one?

Seriously though crimecat, I'm as mystified as you. My lady friend and I (three months and counting, folks) were just saying the other day that we've hardly been out drinking together at all since we started seeing one another - and even on those one or two occasions, it's been distinctly in moderation. Friends of mine state plainly that they could not - or would not - go to a pub and not drink alcohol. I can take it or leave it, and don't mind at all being a designated driver. Maybe it's your background, as both my parents are light drinkers.

[Lucoid]

Both my parents are light drinkers but I (until the last year or so when I seem to have lost the knack/desire and am usually ready to go home by half 10) have always been one to go and get plastered at the weekend, though not to the extent that I throw up in a gutter then lie down in it and fall asleep. I'm really not looking forward to having a wide choice of pubs open later than 11.30 as it means I'm likely to be forced to stay out much later than I want to on a Saturday night due to the drinking habits of my partner's friends. And I hate to be the designated driver as I can't stand most pubs when I'm not drinking.

[HP]

Well I don't drink at all. Not because I don't like the taste, but because I loathe the effect. I don't feel euphoric, just weird and rather unwell. But aren't the worst offenders teenagers rather than the 25 and older crowd? And teenagers do grow up eventually (if they haven't died of liver failure), so perhaps the question is why are todays teenagers guzzling more than they used to? And at the risk of being accused of rampant snobbery, apart from teenagers, the rest of the drinkyourselfblottoandchuckupeverywhere brigade seem to belong to the chav contingent that invades every city, town and village square. And doesn't chavism suggest a serious lack of taste and decorum, so is it too surprising? Or am I way off beam and in need of a dose of Big Brother (perish the thought!) Well, perhaps I might well be: I can't remember the last time Mr Potts and I went anywhere near the clubland side of town - especially on a Saturday night near closing time.

On a more serious note, I don't think it's anything more than sheer habit, a fashion of the times amongst certain social groups. Being drunk and disorderly in the street was once frowned on; now it's seen as evidence of a good night and being a good sport. But then society has always had its fair sprinkling of homos who aren't quite so bloody sapiens.

[Wavid]

Wavid, can you answer this one?

A-ho! I'm a self-confessed binge drinker. I hardly ever drink a can of beer at home, and very very rarely go to the pub for a couple of beers. What I do do, though is go out a handful of times a year and get legless, often ending up my vomiting on some random piece of amner's property. I have to say though, that I don't tend to be a nusiance to others (except amner), and I always end up where I am meant to be.

As for the drinking hours, I often want to stay after 11 at a pub and often find myself in a club just so I can continue my night out. So it's a good thing on that score. But I can see a few years of chaos on a Friday or Saturday night before it beds in.

Isn't it the case, though, that hardly anyone has applied for one of these licences?

[Stewart]

I was binge drinking last night although it's my first binge this week as the other three nights out ( :cry: ) were more leisurely; an accident, no doubt.

I don't see the new open all hours policy working but, since the bar closes too early for me, I'm happy to accept it.

[amner]

...often ending up my vomiting on some random piece of amner's property. I have to say though, that I don't tend to be a nusiance to others (except amner), and I always end up where I am meant to be.

You usually end up where you're meant to be because I get you there.

...I often want to stay after 11 at a pub and often find myself in a club...

Ewww, 'club', along with 'karaoke' and 'slammers', one of those words guaranteed to make me head home.

[HP]

Ewww, 'club', along with 'karaoke' and 'slammers', one of those words guaranteed to make me head home.

Me too. Is it an age thing (both of us being considerably older than Wavid - me by an ancient mile) - or just taste? There is one exception, however, and that's a club dealing in great music. Preferably a jazz club. Last trip was to Ronnie Scott's, London which was cooler than cool. Ronnie Scott's in Birmingham was rubbish. Far too big and impersonal and very much the poor relation.

[Wavid]

Last time I was in Brum, Ronnie Scott's had been turned into a strip club.

Sorry, the point I was making was that I hate clubs too. Only, I sometimes feel the need to carry on drinking and more often than not, a club is the only place to go. The end justifying the means, I guess. So for me, longer opening hours are a good thing, if I am on a bender.

[amner]

It's not an age thing, even as a youngthingabouttown I hated 'going clubbing' (a phrase which sets my teeth on edge and which invariably means a club, singular, even though it implies several), so much that I can probably count memorable club visits on the fingers of one finger. They play music I despise and are filled with people I'd not trust to sit the right way round on the toilet - and from the evidence of the facilities in such places, don't.

If you want to drink after closing, learn to like whiskey and open a bottle at home.

[Wavid]

If you want to drink after closing, learn to like whiskey and open a bottle at home.

er, doesn't that tend to result in the drinkers sobbing themselves to sleep?

[HP]

Blimey, I didn't know that. About Ronnie Scott's in Birmingham. We went back some time before 1995 when we lived in Leics. It was dismally dire. Apparently (I've just checked) it was never run by Ronnie Scott's management, but was a franchise. Anyway, if you can stand the crazy prices, get to RS's in Soho. It's still the bizz.

Wavid, gotta ask, flower: why do you enjoy going on a bender? Isn't there a point fairly early on where you cross over from high to just stewed? I've never quite grasped the pleasure in getting outta your head to the the point where amnesia sets in. Go on - be a peach and explain what the buzz is to an old sober-sides will yers?

[amner]

If you want to drink after closing, learn to like whiskey and open a bottle at home.

er, doesn't that tend to result in the drinkers sobbing themselves to sleep?

And there I think, you've just stumbled on The Answer, mate!

[Wavid]

I have to say, i think it comes from the pleasure of the company I am in more than anything. I think there is some pleasure to be had in the sheer recklessness and, yes, pointlessness of the enterprise, as well as the amusement that results from a removal of some of the more inhibiting inhibitions I might have.

And then there are the opportunities for reminiscing (sp?) days, months and years later about some of the more amusing incidents.

Again, myself and my drinking buddies are hardly from the spewing-in-the-street variety, and I have never been involved in any kind of brawl.

[Wavid]

Where's yjmli? I am sure he would help me out on this one. Bak's a drinker too, isn't he?

[amner]

Again, myself and my drinking buddies are hardly from the spewing-in-the-street variety, and I have never been involved in any kind of brawl.

Ha! That is, to use the vernacular, so not true.

[Wavid]

Well, the spew in the street was only because you threw me out of your car!

But I don't think I have ever been involved in a fight, have I?

Perhaps we should turn this into a Things I Did When I was Drunk topic. Swearing at old ladies, anyone?! :wink:

[HP]

I bet it's true for Wavid! He probably doesn't remember the chucking episode due to alcoholic amnesia!

Seewiussly, tho W - sounds like you're the best sort of lush: a happy if infrequent one! :D

[amner]

But I don't think I have ever been involved in a fight, have I?

When I took you back to Kingo the other Christmas (W's last work do before he departed), I was coming into town at about 6.30 and received a call to say that you were 'unreachable' in your drunkenness. I turned a corner only to find you holding a work colleague up against the wall by the neck having just pushed another into the road in front of a car (these are both blokes, people, and laughing, so it wasn't a heading-up-to-Casualty thing). Me, you threw you bag of chips at...it's brawl territory, isn't it?

[Wavid]

I don't think so... a brawl needs aggression from both sides! OK, so I have been a bit naughty once... but that's it. And it isn't like I was bundled into the back of a police van or anything.

And for a proper brawl you have to have a woman in a mini skirt screaming "Stop it Waviiiid! 'Eee's not werf iiiiiit!"

Anyway, I thought it was P I threw the chips at?

[amner]

You ruined that Travel Etch-a-sketch we had in the car, mind. They're not supposed to use vomit in their 'magical workings' are they?

[Wavid]

True.

Once, on my 19th birthday, I was visiting a friend at Brum uni, with a load of other mates. I managed to drink a 6 pack of stella on my way there, so after a few pints of...oh God, what was it called? A bottle of Diamond White in a pint glass, with a bottle of some greeny coloured alcopop chucked in for good measure. I can't remember. Anyway, they were foul, even more so if you had it 'tops' with a vodka in it.

Where was I? Oh yes (Christ, I sound like Rowley Birkin QC). I was totally soused, and ended up going to bed at 6.30, thus missing my birthday night out completley. Not, however, before visiting the barbers, having a grade 1 crop and having what remained died purple. I understand that I was subjected to various jokes based on being 'purple-headed' at the time. Anyway, waking up well before everyone else the next morning, I wandered round the halls of residence, unaware of my unusual hair style, in search of cans of pop to stop my mouth feeling as dry as a witch's, er, as gandhi's sandals. I got lots and lots of VERY strange looks from everyone I met on the way, which I chose to ignore, being still somewhat inebriated. However, when I got back to the room I realised what they were shocked by: a) the haircut and b) the fact that my, er, appendage was hanging out of the front of my underpants - which were the only thing I was wearing.

Ach! The humiliation!

[Wavid]

I see I have managed to disgust this thread into silence.

Excellent.

[HP]

It's not disgust, Wavid, it's awe. It's 'follow that, if you can'. We're all floundering in a mire and mither of 'God I lead such a boring life!'

(Either that or we're all busy conjuring up images of John Suchet with purple tufts and alfresco bollox......!)

[Lucoid]

It's not silence. It's unstoppable fits of giggles.

[Wavid]

The name of the foul drink was Blastaway, the green alcopop in question being Castaway, of course.

[Lucoid]

Sounds vile.

[ono no komachi]

Sorry Wavid, I was too busy ordering my next case of wine and bottle of malt from Oddbins.com (other online means of shrivelling your liver are available).

I've never brawled, because brawling is anathema to me drunk or sober, but I have fallen over a fair few times, been sick more times and in more places than I care to remember (not that I could, very probably) and advise a fourteen-year old to, in life, '...do what the **** you like, because you'll never please everybody.' No swearing at old ladies, though I do have an ageing aunt who swears like a trooper when she's had a few.

Sober, I'm a fairly repressed individual, and the drink has always helped me loosen my tongue and my morals, and have more fun than I otherwise would.

I have on the whole, outgrown the excesses of my youth and now my indulgence tends to come in the form of plenty of wine with a nice meal, and a nip of whisky at bedtime, so the licensing hours are largely irrelevant. I limit my intake to a glass of wine a day most of the time, not because I fear the effects on my behaviour, but because I don't want my liver to conk out just when I reach retirement age.

Incidentally, did anyone see the Richard Hammond programme 'Should I be worried about.... drinking?' In what he said was a typical week, he had 3 or 4 pints each night, plus a 'showbiz party' at the weekend which constituted a binge. Where does the little titch put it all????

(By the way, I second Wavid's call for Bak to join the fray - I'm dying to have a debate on the relative merits of Speyside vs. Highland malt.)

[HP]

Sober, I'm a fairly repressed individual, and the drink has always helped me loosen my tongue and my morals, and have more fun than I otherwise would.

Yes, I think if you're a quiet 'un who'd rather not be in some situations, then the drink might help. But while I have no objections to others boozing, I still think you're better off learning to lose that repression sober. Because as a sober observer will tell you, someone losing their repressions (well, why not!) under the influence of booze, can be either damned bloody funny, damned bloody boring or damn bloody stupid. But I have rarely heard a true word spoken from someone deep in their cups. And a boozer's impression of the dash they cut is rarely an accurate one. As for loosening your morals and having more fun - well, surely that must be a very temporary state of affairs. Presumably, by the time you sober up, your morals are back in situ and now hounding you with guilt!

No. Spare me the hangover and the guilt trip. Learn to be what you want to be without the juice, I say - it's fabulously liberating.

[Wavid]

I genuinely find the hangover and the guilt thing part of the fun... dissecting a night's boozing and making discoveries about what went on the night before as each person adds their part of the jigsaw.

Once, again quite a few years ago, I awoke on my parent's kitchen floor with a splitting headache, the taste of puke in my mouth and seriously wet trousers. Oh my God I thought, and continued to think until a few days later when a pal revealed I had fallen in a dyke on the way home!

[bakunin_the_cat]

'Uh...who..me?' he said, rubbing his eyes blearily, stirring from the cushioned depths of the sofa, 'What was the question? Oh, yeah, whisky'

Sorry ono, I'm gonna have to disappoint you. Strictly beer for me, well ok, beer and the occasional bottle of gooseberry wine, well alright, beer the occasional bottle of gooseberry wine and maybe just a social shot or two of Finlandia, well ok if you're being pedantic, then beer, the occasional bottle...

but no whisky. Unless it's poteen being passed around in an unlikely gathering in a city centre car park at about 3 in the morning and even that kind of lost it's appeal after the Polish guy who turned up passed out, stopped breathing and nearly died. Luckily my friend knew first aid, and by the time the ambulance arrived, he was back in the world, and happy enough in his morose kind of way.

I know what you're thinking, ah the evils of alcohol, yadda yadda, but upto that moment it was probably one of the most memorable events since, I've been here. Various waifs and strays of the night who for some reason which still escapes me, came together in a circle on the tarmac.

Without our excessive consumption, we would all have been tucked up safely in our beds, or sitting by the fire with a glass of 12 year old Highland Park, reading Sherlock Holmes. Not that I'd say that was always a bad thing but it's sometimes nice to abandon yourselves to the winds of chance and opportunity.

[Wavid]

Unless it's poteen being passed around in an unlikely gathering in a city centre car park at about 3 in the morning

Would Phil Mitchell be present, by any chance, Bak?!

[bakunin_the_cat]

I don't think so, though exactly who was there is a bit hazy. I met someone in a pub the other day, whose face rang vague bells, but no recognition until she said, 'It's you.'

I stared at her, preparing to make a quick getaway if I'd thrown up in her flower patch, or burnt holes in her carpet.

'You were in that car park.'

[HP]

if I'd thrown up in her flower patch

Crikey, that's a new one ..... :lol:

[bakunin_the_cat]

:lol:

[amarie]

I'm afraid to say that I once got arrested after an evening drinking and had to spend the night in Cambridge police station - without my shoes, which I thought was rather odd. But that was about ten years ago and I'm pleased to report it's never happened again!

[amner]

They let you keep your shoes now, do they?

[bakunin_the_cat]

I think they take your shoes so that you can't hang yourself with the laces, if you felt so inclined. The fact that some shoes don't have laces has probably been lost on our esteemed constabulary.

[amarie]

They let you keep your shoes now, do they?

I've no idea why they took mine anyway. From what I recall I was only wearing plimsolls, which are hardly dangerous. What did they think I was going to do? Set about the policemen with a rubber shoe??

[Wavid]

Worrying news. (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/4152772.stm)

[John Self]

Worrying? Isn't this natural selection at work?

[Wavid]

That's the second time in a week you have responded like that to me, JS.

I struggled to come up with link text for that one, so I agree with you really. I doubt any of us Palimpsestarians drink to those kinds of excesses.

[Digger]

Illustrated by the fact that we are all still alive, if a little hung over! :D

[John Self]

Unsurprisingly, a NIMBY Labour MP who supported the change in licensing laws has objected (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/4167696.stm)to his local pub having its hours extended.

[NottyImp]

Unsurprisingly, a NIMBY Labour MP who supported the change in licensing laws has objected to his local pub having its hours extended.

Ah, popularism in bed with hypocrisy again. Does my heart good.

[amner]

Just re-reading this little gem and have been merrily chuckling away. Time for me to organise that trip to the Welsh Borders, Wavey old friend!

[Hekaterine]

I do like it when threads from before my time.

By the way Notty - I live in a (quiet-ish) residential area, but this could be a real problem for those living on the fringes of city centres. Have you changed your mind now you live on the fringe of a city centre yourself? I think I may have assisted you home more than once following a slight overindulgence in malt liquors ;-)

Not that I'm totally amstemious myself of course...

PS - oh Wavid, I'd completely forgotten about Blastaways! Christ they were lethal!

[John Self]

Smoking ban 'hits pub takings' (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/5276680.stm)

My heart bleeds...

[Stewart]

It's not the smoking ban that's driven off regulars (although I fail to see it) but the fact the regulars are probably dying off and the prices are getting ridiculous for a drink. The nearest pub to me charges £3.10 for a bottle of Magners, £2.80 for a pint of shite, and a pint of decent beer is also over £3.

I went to my usual pub on Sunday and, to be honest, it wasn't the same: it was more like a bloody X-Factor audition than a pub. All these little knobs with their colourful clothes and gay hairstyles not actually talking to each other but probably texting across the table - these people don't drink. They just like to hear their own voices and zoom up and down streets.

[Daveybot]

It's not the smoking ban that's driven off regulars (although I fail to see it) but the fact the regulars are probably dying off and the prices are getting ridiculous for a drink. The nearest pub to me charges £3.10 for a bottle of Magners, £2.80 for a pint of shite, and a pint of decent beer is also over £3.
£2.80?! Lawks- I wish.

Now being a bit of a Ra up here, I must confess to obeying many of the stereotypical laws associated with the English Student In Edinburgh. Consequently I only have myself and my nasty ilk to blame for the destruction of acceptable pubs in recent years. Still, even I have my limits.

Let us take, for instance, the yearly presence of the Spiegeltents in George Square (http://www.spiegeltent.net/index.php?action=productcatalogue&prodcat_id=616&pageID=4639&sectionID=0). Edinburgh hasn't many beer gardens (I can think of four) so during the festival they make a whopping one right in George Square, surrounded by Fringe venues. I don't mind paying the slightly higher prices because the atmosphere is great and you get lots of live musicians and loonies around to entertain you.

...or at least this was the case.

Every year we all (all of us, everywhere) complain that festivals (all festivals, everywhere) have become over-commercial and things were better before and nostalgia isn't what it used to be. Well, this year I really mean it. When one used to at least be able to buy a dirty pint of Tennants for under £3 here it's now hopped to £3.45, and a bottle of that gawd-awful absolute piss they call Magners costs a mind-blowing £4.95! Add to that the fact that it's been so busy from day one that you actually have to queue just to get into the garden, and that quite frankly the weather isn't all that good, and we are left with a disgruntled former customer who now refuses to return.

Yep, even the most annoying Edinburgh drinking stereotype (neds and Bucky don't count - they're a lot of fun) the Snobby English 20-Something, is now outraged.

Bah. Drinking myself into a stupor at home in front of Film4 has never looked so good.

[Stewart]

I don't quite see how the prices can be justified unless they are overpaying their staff. Pubs: stop it now. We don't care about ambience all that much; just a cheap pint poured by some busty wench.

[Digger]

and we are left with a disgruntled former customer who now refuses to return.

Bah. Drinking myself into a stupor at home in front of Film4 has never looked so good.

wow, it must have got bad for the Bot to stop raving about the Spiegletents! hark back southerly Dave, we still have ordinary beer gardens, and you know there's a few relatively untainted pubs within stumbling distance to your front door!

[chillicheese]

Aaah, the ordinary pub backlash, that's what I like to see. Just when I think that I've seen the last of floral beer-stained carpets, formica bar tops and Big-D Peanut saucy tear-offs, I still stumble across the odd little gem left over from the late 70s. And yes, isn't it strange how the price of a pint climbs as soon as the floorboards are sanded, the windows de-netted and the average punter age slashed.

Actually I'm just glad to be back in the country where I can say 'illavapin'aginness' and the staff understand me.

nice to be back on the big P too.

[Stace]

Interesting to see that this law has resulted in society descending into anarchy and causing rampant problems

Sensationalisation

[Digger]

Welcome back Chilli, where'ya been? I presume answers might appear on the 'Travel' thread, unless your destination exclusively involved pubs!

[chillicheese]

Been working away in Brussels for a short while where of course the licensing restrictions are far less er, restrictive so although my destination didn't exclusively involve pubs there was quite a lot of lethal Belgian beer consumed. I'd like to say that being out of England has a civilising effect on the drinking habits of the English but it doesn't, we just drink longer and get drunker.

On the other hand, my new job (woohooo, new job, less hours, more cash !!!) is very 9-5 which is so so good in most ways as I'm not working through the night any more but it does mean that I can't really go and take advantage of all the Brighton bars that are open till 2 or 3 am now. Then again, Bank Holiday weekend so let's have it !!!!

[ono no komachi]

Congrats on the new job chilli! Hope it's all you could wish for!

[Hekaterine]

Interesting to see that this law has resulted in society descending into anarchy and causing rampant problems
Yes, it's been the end of civilisation as we know it, hasn't it?

EDIT: by the way, just realised this is my 100th post :-)