Sorry DT.....

Tatooine Cantina Lock In
1

Can Mojo elaborate? Will it affect your business and does anyone with a liquor license have to abide by the new rules or is it only certain classes of licenses?

London [i]- British pubs are to ban “Happy Hour” drinking promotions which allow people to consume large amounts of alcohol cheaply and quickly, in an attempt to tackle alcohol-fuelled violence.

The British Beer and Pub Association (BBPA) said in a statement that its 32 000 members would adhere to the ban on Happy Hours and drink-all-you-can schemes with immediate effect.

Binge drinking has become a major problem in Britain over the last few years and has turned many town centres into virtual no-go areas on Friday and Saturday nights.

“Offers like pay 10 pounds at the door and all drinks are free; drinking games and schemes that encourage people to drink too much too quickly have no place in our sector and we are determined to stamp them out,” said Mark Hastings of the BBPA.

“With the backing of the government, the police and licensing authorities across the UK, we aim to ensure that all pubs operate to these standards of corporate and community social responsibility.”

The BBPA owns nearly two thirds of Britain’s 59 000 pubs.

The All Bar One, Slug & Lettuce and Pitcher & Piano pub groups are all taking part in the ban.

The move to curb Happy Hour schemes comes ahead of a change in the licensing laws across England and Wales and a plan to allow some bars to stay open 24 hours a day.

Scotland already has extended drinking hours.

The government has said the old system, under which drinkers all spilled out onto the street at the same time as the pubs closed, fuelled drunken fights, vandalism and vomiting in public.

But alcohol experts, doctors and police officers say later hours will exacerbate binge drinking, liver disease and anti-social behaviour.

The BBPA has also called on supermarkets which sell cheap alcohol to follow its lead. [/i]

2

Yup, its true, we have many town bars here that offer “buy 1, get 2 free” and similar promotions and they are seen as causing drunken behaviour which turns many town centres into war zones in the evening.

This was tried last year in …ummmm… Sunderland I think. The police and council banned all cheap booze offers, but this was immediately overturned by the Monopolies and Mergers arm of the government as being “Anti-competitive”.

That’s why it has taken a long time to come back into the public eye, as a change to law is required. At present this is not new law, but a voluntary agreement. It doesn’t affect us as we don’t offer cheap booze at all - there is no need, we charge a fair price for a good quality drink, and I’d rather make my full margin on a lower turnover than give it away and fill the pub with vomiting 18 year olds.

Your reporter is incorrect, they don’t. The people who actually own the pubs and bars are members of the BBPA, which is a trade association.

On the point of longer licensing, all Landlords are now applying for new licences which offer more flexibility in opening, but as they are now controlled by the council don’t expect every boozer to be open 24 hours - the councils will simply not allow it. Here we will be asking for 8am (to cover foreign sports events) to 2am (as we are a rural community and people tend to drink and eat later in the day). If granted that means we may open at anytime within those hours, but are not forced to. So, just like in many parts of continental europe, we can stay open later if there are enough bodies about, and close early if it is a quiet night.

3

Aha, very interesting. Thanks for the clarity Mojo.

Most licenses in SA are iether until 02:00 AM or 04:00 AM. If you want to stay open longer you need to get a Hotel license not a Bar license.

That’s as far as I understand it anyway.

4

Hey Mojo, just a thought, how does this affect the Whithaspoons(sp) chain who are mainly popular because they sell cut price drinks at all times ?

(Thats if you like drinking near end of date beer… :eek: )

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IF the law is passed each council/trading standards office will be able to set a minimum price for a drink, to be applied in their area. Weatherspoons would have to sell at that minimum (or higher) which kinda screws their operation up a bit.

Interestingly, the Pitcher and Piano chain mentioned in Juggy’s post is run by Tim Martin, who founded Weatherspoons and sold it on for £millions. So I guess he doesn’t really care.

6

Surely that goes against the rules of competition and becomes price fixing though. in the same way Levi’s get away with it and the whole Tesco thing a few years back :confused:

I thought it was purely to prevent the “buy two get one free” and other such promotions offering a free beer, as that incites indulgence. Do happy hours do the same thing?

In fact why not got the whole hog on the granny state along with our “bath water temp sensors”, you could have an identity card that you have to use to get your drinks and then the government could see how much you drink and charge you more for NHS treatments… Of course all integrated so once you’ve had your 1pint daily allowance you can’t order another one :furious:

My answer, raise the drinking age to 21, having driving and drinking as the same age only leads to loads of drunk youngsters driving round anyway…

That’s it from me - I’m off to the pub for happy hour (commonly known at my local as less glum hour)

DT.

7

Buy one get one free, was stopped at my local :frowning:

It really p’s me off that although part of europe in any matter that involves us parting with cash, we gain nothing in drinking hours and booze/fag prices.

Another thing is the eu standards we have to comply with ranging from the sane to the down right stupid, but our country seems to be the only country made to enforce those rules. How many times have you been on holiday and had your dinner cooked in a traverna from the inside of a shed that would be shut down instantly if it was in this country ?

We are a country run by people who worry what the “do gooders” minority think. well stuff them, they are after all the minority.

ohh god i better stop i could rant for hours

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It’s the same here. The minority runs our government. :frowning:

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How many times have you been on holiday and had your dinner cooked in a traverna from the inside of a shed that would be shut down instantly if it was in this country ?

but you must admit they cook ‘real’ food, whereas our is messed with so much e.g. the british sausage is best described as ‘reprocessed entrails’, our kids are hyper with additives, and they are all developing allergic asthma.

somewhere there is a happy medium. (and no, its not Mystic Meg with a bong ;0 )

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Problem is the people looking for it couldn’t find their tackholes with a map and compass!!!