Off Licence

[pussyfoot]

Don't quite know where to put this so I'll try here!

Why is an Off Licence called an Off Licence?

[marval]

My OH says it is because they sell alcohol off the premises, in other words not in a pub.

[mccfluff]

yep basically they are licensened to sell alcohol to be consumed off the premises

[andy-hughes]

A pub with an 'off licence' would often serve from a separate area, an annexe to the main building. This would allow children to come in unaccompanied - the law prevevnts their access to licensed premises under the age of fourteen - so they could buy pop and crisps, and, if a blind eye was turned, alcohol for their parents.

Often children would be sent to the 'Offie' to buy beer and cigarettes, but this was before drinking clulture changed, with the advent of supermarket sales and binge drinking which has tightened enforcement of the law.