24 Hour Boozing....

[Loosehead]

....is in the news again. Do you think it will make things worse or better? I mean is it a shove in the direction of continental attitudes to drinking or is it just adding fuel to British predisposition to get drunk and cause problems?

[nedflanders]

libertie, I am in Glasgow, what are the typical hours in Edinburgh?

[libertie]

Hi ned, city center pubs seem to be really busy around 5ish or so then quiet again from 7 till 8.30ish then very busy from 8.30ish till 1am when most people head of to a club....not me I hasten to add.....I just can't keep up (unfortunately)!

[Betty Boop x]

Personally I don't think it will help the situation. When I go out at the weekend, the aim for most people I go out with is to get drunk. Simple fact.

Typical statments made before a night out:

"I'm going to get sooooo drunk tonight"

"I'm going to be so wasted tonight, I'm gonna be on the floor"

Person one "Are you getting hammered tonight? Person Two - "Erm . . silly question I always do!"

This is the same every single time I go out. I come from a nice area and all my friends and myself have been well educated and brought up well, but this is just how many (N.B I am not saying all) young people think and behave (including myself).

Even though I can have a good time when I'm not drunk, when I go out and everyone else is getting drunk, you just go along with it. It would be fine if everyone was sober or just tipsy, but unfortunatly it's not much fun being the only sober one in a club, therefore you get drunk because everyone else is.

The mentality is that to have a good night you need to get drunk, of course this isn't true but it is how many (again not all) young people feel.

My parents let me have small amounts of alcohol occasionally since I was 13, which meant that I didnt feel the need to go and get "absolutly wasted" as soon as I could but it doesnt stop me getting drunk now and if i'm honest occasionally drinking far too much.

x

[Betty Boop x]

cont . . .

When i'm out in a club which closes at 2am, many people drink up untill 2am, then leave very drunk and i just feel that if a club stays open untill 3am or 4am (I can't see many clubs having a licence much later than this) then people will drink up untill that time and still leave when it closes very drunk (if not more so than if it closed at 2am). Some people may leave earlier but i think that the majority of people will still leave at closing time, meaning that there will still be lots of people coming out at once, all drunk and all wanting a taxi home.

These new laws will make binge drinking worse not better, for many people if they are in a club, as long as alcohol is still being served they will continue to drink it untill they are chucked out at closing time, whenever this may be.

I understand what the government are trying to do, but unfortunatly my above statments prove the mentallity of many young people and their reaction will not be "oh, the club is open later so I don't need to rush my drinks", It will be "YES! more time to drink, we have untill 4am now instead of 2am!"

This is how I see it and I go out every single weekend and drink, I'm part of the binge drinking world (I'm no where near as bad as some people but i do get drunk) I always think to myself, this weekend I won't drink, then you get out and everyone else is drinking so therefore I do anyway. I don't cause trouble but I know binge drinking isnt good for your health, but when your in a club with your friends and everyone is having a good time, thats the last thing on your mind.

So in my mind there is no way these laws will solve the binge drinking problem, What will? I have no idea, but serving alcohol for longer isnt the answer!

x

[Betty Boop x]

P.S. I totally agree with Andy's statements.

x

[blinkyblinky]

I remember being in Spain a couple of years ago in a town centre on a Friday night, and I was amazed to see all sorts of people out - young people, old people, families with kids... The atmosphere was so much more friendly and less threatening than your typical UK town at that time of night. That's how it felt to me anyway.

Someone made a point earlier about just leaving the binge drinkers to get on with it, but why should they take over the place and make town centres generally unpleasant at these times?

I think a lot of older people would like to go out at night for a drink, but they wouldn't dream of it because they feel that the town and city centres are hostile places at night with people being lardy, throwing up and generally misbehaving. I know my parents feel that way, and I'm beginning to see it that way now. Guess I'm getting old myself...

[joko]

people drink more because they know they have to stop at 11, so, with some urgency, they try to get plenty down them in a short time

people leave the pub at 11 as does every other person that has been drinking - hence all the fighting

simple

if there were 24 hours, i and others wouldn't feel i only have 2 - 2and half hours to drink in, and therefore space the drinks out and not get too drunk.

I also wouldn't have to stand around waiting for cabs with 50 drunk people causing trouble around me, who have, like many others drank far too quickly in order to get as much in as possible before 11

[blinkyblinky]

Joko, I've heard that argument before but I'm not convinced. It's not the fact that people have 2 hours in which to get drunk or 4 hours, it's the fact of wanting to get drunk in the first place, not knowing when to stop.

In most countries being really drunk is a kind of embarrassment, it's a sign that someone has serious problems with their life or just a kind of loss of face. I'm not suggesting that if they do things differently in other countries, then it must be Britain that's at fault. But in this case, I think it is.

Extending the opening times might lead to people getting drunk in a less hurried way, but it doesn't get to the root of the problem.

[WoWo]

I think people are missing the point somewhat. The government have never said that all 24 drinking is being introduced to curb binge drinking.

But anyway, I have personal experience of a change in attitude to drinking in an area where later opening takes place as mentioned before.

I'm not saying for a second less people won't get drunk, what I'm saying is that there wont be the mass exodus of people at 11:00.

I've never been to a club which closes later than 12:00 and seen the whole club turffed out in one go, people really do naturally drift off over the evening.

[bruce5755]

Betty Boop x. Excellent piece and well written, good of you to be as honest as you were!

Personally I just cant believe the stupidity of the government on this issue, so many contradictions in their plans. i.e. The costs of extra policing, the increased danger on the roads, the costs to the health service, not to mention the costs to family life! Alcohol is a very dangerous drug that, lets be honest, most young people especially, just cant handle!

In a recent survey I noticed that over 80 percent of people disagree with this plan, and I thought we lived in a democracy! Mark my words, we are all going to pay dearly for this unthought out plan, and regret it for years to come!

I live in a small road that is a popular shortcut from the town centre, and what is going to happen is that we will suffer more criminal damage, later into the early hours of the morning, instead of the idiots disappearing at about midnight, which happens now!

A young lad who works with me has often boasted about how him and his mates look forward to Friday and Saturday evenings, when their only aim is to go out and get as drunk as they can and "have a good laugh" on the way home, (which he openly admits means "winding a few people up" by being noisy and obnoxious) but during the rest of the week, you couldn't meet a nicer person!

Seems strange to me that the government has launched an all out campaign at us smokers, but give free rights of passage to the people who really cause us the most damage!!!!

[LeMarchand]

I work in a club that shuts at 0200h. 80% of people stay (drinking) until the end. On the odd occasions we have had an extension, the same has applied. I believe that a large proportion of the drinking populace will drink for as long as possible, and suggest that part of the reason that the Govt are so keen on pushing this through is due to "considerations" from the breweries.

As I've said in another post, why do people get so irate about not being able to drink when they want? (Though of course they can - at home). Why do some of the respondents here feel they have to neck down a few more pints before closing time?

I also notice that in the "ban smoking" threads, people drag bar staff into the equation, citing their health as a reason to ban smoking in pubs and clubs. No-one seems worried about them working 24/7 though...

[homealoneand]

as a publican i must say that the laws state thet if a person appears to be under the infloance of drink or drugs then we have that right not to serve them ..if all landlords/ladies abide by these laws then there should not be a problem

[LeMarchand]

Don't know if many people are still checking this thread, but an interesting report on MSN about drunken pedestrians: http://cars.msn.co.uk/carnews/drunkpedstriansnov05/

[Otrere]

My employer have just got their 24-hr alcohol selling licence (its a supermarket). I work till 11.30pm and to be honest I am dreading the possibility of having to serve a group of drunks who find it amusing to poke jibes at me, or get aggressive etc. etc.

[Otrere]

Would just like to add.... I haven't read any of the other threads, but I have heard that anyone who is "drunk and disorderly" will be subject to an on-the-spot, eighty pound fine? Is this right?