Pubs' call of 'Time!' may be thing of past

©Associated Press

© St. Petersburg Times, published April 11, 2000

LONDON -- Hoping to cut down on binge drinking and pub brawls, the British government proposed a novel idea Monday: allow bars to stay open 24 hours a day.

Scrapping the mandatory 11 p.m. closing time was the centerpiece of plans to liberalize and streamline licensing laws that were inspired by fears of munitions workers getting drunk during World War I.

"Fixed closing times encourage binge drinking around last orders," Home Secretary Jack Straw told the House of Commons. "The result is lots of people hitting the streets -- and sometimes each other -- at the same time."

Under the government proposals, released as a discussion paper, any pub, licensed cafe or restaurant can apply to stay open for 24 hours, seven days a week. Children will also be allowed into pubs for the first time -- but only to watch. Eighteen is the minimum legal age for buying alcoholic drinks in a pub.

"This is a step in the right direction toward the repeal of archaic laws set during wartime," said Mary Curnock, director of the British Institute of Innkeeping, which represents 16,500 establishments.

In practice, police and pub keepers expect the 24-hour licenses to be confined to the centers of London and other big cities, with the main aim being to stagger closing times between 11 p.m. and 3 a.m.

The changes would affect 140,000 pubs, restaurants, hotels and nightclubs in England and Wales. Scotland, which has different drinking laws, already allows pubs in some areas to remain open until 3 a.m.

The new policy could be law by the summer of 2001.

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