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24 hour drinking?
Former Member
Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
Just read in the Daily mail that the government are thinking about allowing pubs to stay open 24 hours (more or less).
But the police dont like this. Because they think it will increase violence, robbery etc.
And other people say it will increase binge drinking. But i think this is wrong.
You see in the mediteranean there isnt much violence atall really. And i know in theory it should increase drinking and therefore increase crime. But i dont think it will.
What are you're views?
But the police dont like this. Because they think it will increase violence, robbery etc.
And other people say it will increase binge drinking. But i think this is wrong.
You see in the mediteranean there isnt much violence atall really. And i know in theory it should increase drinking and therefore increase crime. But i dont think it will.
What are you're views?
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Comments
We in the UK have an all out policy to drunkeness, as much as cheaply as possible.
Personally I'm not sure what would be good to decrease the amount of binge drinking, a stop to happy hours would be a good start. That and a stop to 'drink all you can' type promotions.
And of course covering any violent drunks in mace from head to foot would teach them a lesson.
Pubs should be open twenty four hours a day, but pub owners should be able to determine whether or not they do, not the state.
Then I do think that, from looking at the attitude to alcohol on the continent (especially Germany/Austria, as this is what I know) it's much less likely that they base their night (and even day's) activities and indeed their social life, around alcohol. I think this may be something to do with the fact that it's readily available whenever, and the pubs etc can stay open (usually) until they wish to close. This takes away the rush to the bar at last orders, which often leads to people drinking as much as they can in a short space of time, and would also mean that come 11.30pm there weren't loads of disgruntled half-cut people wandering the streets looking for their next watering hole. Ok, I'm generalising massively, but I have known people to be rowdy and indeed aggressive when they're denied anymore drinks because of last orders or closing time. That said, this is a small thing that would change, and I haven't read anything recently to give me the facts on how it's perceieved alcohol-related crime and disturbances would go up.
Ok, this is a bit of a confusing post
Well in Europe that's the way it does work. Just because they have the ability to remain open, doesn't mean they stay open at 5.30am when the town's deserted and a tumbleweed has just blown past.
Same with shops etc that have 24 hour opening or late opening capabilities, they don't always use them fully.
And then she's gone!
The trouble with binge drinking at the moment is that people have a set amount of time in which to drink- say they go out at seven, they know they have four hours. So, especially when it gets to 10.30, they start drinking faster in order to get a bit mroe in. It happens a lot.
Pubs wouldn't open 24 hours, except in major places, and even then few people would be drinking very early. Most people would still go home from the pub about 11pm, for most people it is late enough. BUt they would have the CHOICE.
The easiest way of curbing over-consumption of alcohol os to remove BOGOF promotions and make the price of a double shot of alcohol double the price of a single, so people are not financially reqarded by drinking more than they want. J D Wetherspoon, to their credit, already do this- if a shot of vodka is £1, a double is £2, not £1.50 like it would be in many places.
I dont really like bars anyway, much better to have mates round and knock back a bottle of vodka between you.
They were just example prices, buyt in my local branch of J D Wetherspoon a double Smirnoff and Red Bull is £2.50. And a pint of real ale is £1.49.
The norf r0x!
On the one hand, it is true that everyone stumbling out at 11pm concentrates drunken behaviour, one of the negatives of this being violence.
On the other hand, 24 hour drinking means people can get drunk for longer, which i don't know is a good idea.
Basically i believe what ever the government decide, there are going to be strong opposers and supporters. And the strong opposers will blame every bit of drunken related violence on the new proposal if it is carried out, and the supporters will do the same if it isn't.
The other posters are right about our drinking culture, alcohol is an activity in Britain, i know friends who decide to spend their sat night getting drunk, which to me personally is mad, i drink alcohol on nights out, but it isn't my sole purpose for being there, maybe if we change this attitude, we can help the problem.
We have a lot of angry drinkers who, lets face it are just anti-social twats.
A lot of people dont act up in a club because they know that the security will 'take care' of trouble makers. I am totally in favour of this type of justice to those who cause trouble on the street, or in the NHS for that matter.
That surely is just plain wrong, how can they possibly make spirits that cheap?! I dread to think of the quality involved.
You aren't the only one. I don't fancy Smirnoffovovskioffski, specially fermented in a garage in Rotherham.
There is a drinking culture in the UK and the US that isn't prevalent anywhere else in Europe, and it is down to social attitudes. It is seen as something aside from everyday life, rather than a part of it, and I think it is deeply worrying.
In most of the continent drinking, like sex, is seen as nothing special. Nice, but not the thing you should base social interaction around. You talk over a bottle of wine, not get so pissed you can't talk at all. And, even more importantly, children from a young age are included in this- alcohol isn't seen as something only grown-ups can have.
I like going to the pub, having a few pints of nice ale, and then walking home with a bag of chips. I don't see the appeal of getting pissed out of my face every weekend. In this country I'm a social freak, really, whereas even in Germany during Oktoberfest that's all people want to do.
Periodically there are threads in the Sex section which I think say every you need to know about over drinking. 'Your worst drunken mistake' with 150 replies, each more depressing and dangerous than the last.
Thats exactly the same with me. Although, every once in a while its ok to get pissed enough to warrant a hangover, but not every weekend. Whats wrong with getting drunk to the point where it's enjoyable, not embarrasing?
The drinking culture is almost the same, though. At least for the young, as it is in this country. Look at George W. Bush's two daughters- they are typical of the US drinking culture.
The US exasperates this problem by banning drinking until 21 for many states.
Exactly.
Drinking and sex are very closely linked in the UK and US, and the social attitudes to both are what is dangerous. Drinking is not seen as something in a social context, it is seen as a social context in itself, and sex is attached to this social context because of the taboo nature of sex in the puritanical US and UK.
Exactly.
I like going out and drinking too much every so often, but even then I don't go out and drink to get drunk. I drink as part of seeing my mates, etc.
A lot of people drink to get drunk, as opposed to drinking it because it is a tasty beverage to enjoy.
That's what annoys me about my mates. If they're not pissed enough by the time they leave the pub, they have to go home and drink until they pass out. I never go back, becuase I usually feel happy enough how I am, I don't need another half bottle Of Jack down me. Usually by the time I leave the pub all I want is some food.
I just don't understand it.
Bars there are not really the same as pubs here, they dont have the same reputation at all.
A lot more drinking happens at house parties because of the law.
The only way i'd even consider thinking this was a good idea was if the pubs and clubs who who took part paid in FULL the cost of each PC who is required to attend that bar's vicinity.
So if a fight breaks out requiring ten officers, for 2 hours at a rate of about £8.90 an hour it would cost them £178, this would allow for an extra 10 officers to be on duty to cover the areas they should be covering, plus add on overtime costs, transport costs and the costs of keeping a prisoner in a cell overnight and any damage caused by said fight it will be a hefty bill.
Durham, carlisle and Newcastle all run Nightbus services, and this has helped to cut violence after nightclub closing.
If closing times were staggered, there would not be the same problems, as taxis and food would not be in demand and there would, therefore, not be the sparks.
I'm unclear as to the licencing laws on the continent, but I don't see 24hr opening being a real problem here, as most country landlords will want to shut up shop by midnight or 1. Inner-city clubs and bars already have a system of bouncers working together, and will probably stagger kicking out time, if they decided to have one.
The main problem the police have is that all the smashed lager-louts get kicked out at the same time, which is never going to be a good thing.
Agreed, whenever I'm out and about I'll leave a half hour before last orders, because after that, you just don't want to be walking through town without an armoured guard.
£80 fixed penalties for drunken behaviour seem to be going down a treat with quite a few forces. And once people realise that they might avoid the fines by not drinking so heavily things will be better, because at the moment a night in the cells isn't deterrent enough.
On the continent they tend to fine drunken holidaymakers a huge amount in order to avoid prison.
A night in the cells is B&B really. Fine them £100, see what happens then.