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'24 hour drinking'

Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
Sorry for the length of this - It's an issue I've been very interested in since the proposals, and I've been quite keen to discuss since the laws came into effect - but it's been too soon to comment on the issue until now really. If you can't be bothered reading all the way through, I pretty much sum up the aims of this thread in the bullet points in the middle, and the last paragraph. I've indented the main body of text which is mainly me rambling and discussing with myself out loud :p

I also apologize if there may be some overlap in this thread from the 'drunk for a pound - 24p a can of lager' thread, but I felt that opening a thread would be slightly more relevant than raising that thread up and diverting from the debate that took place in that thread (For the record, anyone who can get drunk off Asda's smart price lager must be the kind of person who gets drunk off shandy, given you'd be sick before you'd be anything close to paraletic off it due to the sheer quantity most people - including teenagers - would have to drink, and given teenagers shouldn't be able to get hold of it from supermarkets anyway...).

It's now just a few days over 2 years since '24 hour drinking' came into effect. Now, I would argue that even after the tabloids' constant media rallies, campaigns and negative reporting of the issue of 24 hour drinking, the massive spates of violence, deaths and A&E overloading never then, nor since then became apparent in comparison to past years. In fact, this article - while welsh (;)) seems to agree with what I said then - and now. 24 hour drinking was a good idea. Even though it was seen as the worst mistake the government could have made, and A&E departments / police station cells would be full to bursting, I've actually noticed less trouble occurring - in the 3 different towns I've regularly gone out with in the past 4 or 5 years. On the issue of extended opening hours - at 20, I would still class myself as a young person, and the extended opening hours have server me very well in that I can now go out half an hour later to have a quick pint or 2 in the half hour before last orders - as opposed to drinking twice as much. The same thing was apparent in the young, middle aged and older people in the pub I was working at during the transition - those that came out for a specific number of pints were happier being able to come out slightly later / leave slightly earlier, and there was much less of a rush at last orders than used to be apparent. In fact, I haven't noticed the last orders pile up at any bar I've been to since 11pm became an 'early' time for last orders.

Whether you might agree with me that extended opening hours has probed a success or not, I wonder why I read this story in the daily mirror today, 2 years after the laws introduction:

'Many young people in the UK are drinking themselves into oblivion a police chief warns today. West Yorkshire boss Sir Norman Bettison blames cheap booze and longer opening hours for the problem (Article continues with usual irrelevant crap expected of the mirror)... But a survey by the British Beer and Pub association found that just three per cent said they drank more since late pub opening started in 2005.'

I understand I've babbled a bit there, but basically the point of this thread;
  • Those who are drinkers, and have been since the extended opening hours provision came in - do you think you drink more, or do you now head out later / take more time drinking?
  • Do you think the extended opening hours were a success, need refining, or an absolute failure?
  • Just to get this sneaky point in - is today's generation of young people suffering from the social problem of excessive (binge) drinking, or is it a problem which you think has been prevalent in many generations of young people - and do you think the law regarding extended opening hours is aggravating this situation?

Sorry for those who might have found this too long and skipped through most of it, but I'm generally quite interested in the attitude that most tabloid newspapers, many politicians, adults, parents and so on hold, of anything to do with higher availability of alcohol being a massive factor in young people binge drinking their way to liver cancer, when I'm willing to bet many of you old timers (;)) can recall with fondness getting drunk on cider or alcopops with your friends, having your first beer / glass of wine / sip of your dad's whisky at a young age, etc. I'm personally quite passionate about the issue, as I think the longer the issue of young people is made to seem like a huge societal emergency, the more glamorous and rebellious it will seem to them. I myself love cheap beer (Asda's 3 crates of crap lager for £20 being my prime pickings at the moment ;)), but I don't drink any more than I usually would simply because it's cheaper - it just means I have more to last me a much longer time, share with friends etc. If a pub wants to sell beer for a pound a pint, I feel it should be allowed to do so, as in my experience in the bar trade 'happy hour' style events, special events such as live bands and singers and quiz nights etc tend to bring many more people into the pub - 99% of whom turn up for the high volume of people there and the atmosphere of a lively, full pub.

My rambling has been quite atrocious this morning; anyone who has managed to bear with me, congratulations :p To give an all round point to my thread, in addition to my questions above: What do you think is the most appropriate action to take regarding young drinkers? Restrict their access perhaps, as someone lately purposed, media campaigns to raise awareness, or is excessive consumption of alcohol something ingrained in English / British youth culture as a result of lack of social provisions for us that it won't change until more is done to give young people something to do at the weekend other than seek escapism? Answers on a postcard - or preferably in the form of a reply please!
Again, to those who didn't read due to length - the general idea I'm putting up for discussion is whether or not the moral panic regarding young people (young people being age 0 - anyone you would class as a young person with regard to alcohol and drugs) drinking excessively is as major an issue as it's made out to be in England / Britain today - has it always been the same, and simply more publicised lately 'Boys/kids will be boys/kids' etc, or is it an issue which urgently needs tackling?

Comments

  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    I think young people drinking in an uncontrolled environment/way is becoming an increasing problem. I`m regularly dealing with drunken youths, and the things they are doing. Where that be fighting, criminal damage or thefts. And i`ve noticed an increase in this over the last couple of years. I don`t think this is directly due to the increased opening hours, many kids still can`t get in them, but alcohol, despite the supposed difficulties in getting hold of it is still finding its way out onto the streets and into the hands of people who arent mature enough to be drinking.

    The government needs to move alcohol in line with other drugs, in terms of making it harder to get hold of and increasing the penalties for people who supply it to underage drinkers and people who are drunk. The "cafe" style society that Tony Blair envisioned isnt happening, and it isnt going to happen. British people just dont seem to have the ability to moderate their intakes like other people do. Instead, we drink to get drunk. Wether that is because of the availability, or simply because life in this country is shite I dont know.
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