All day drinking ‘a failure’

To view the original article Click Here

Title – All day drinking ‘a failure’
Source – The Independent on Sunday
Date – 24th February 2008

Taking statistics and using them to present a predetermined conclusion is easy and the press and certain other agencies have championed this cause when it comes to reporting the Licensing Act 2003 and it’s so called effects.

To start with it is rarely referred to as the licensing act, the press prefer the dramatic '24-hour drinking law' as if somehow we all get up in the morning and spend the next 24 hours down the local. I for one would have to travel an hour or more to find somewhere to drink past midnight on a Friday let alone 24 hours a day. Only 1.5% of licensed premises actually applied for 24 hour licenses. The vast majority increased their hours by only a few each week and many more that applied for more have since retreated back or do not use their entire allocation because there is simply not the trade to sustain it.

Statistics can be manipulated, and here they have been, but anyone can do that. If violent crime has gone up by 25% and drink-related crime between 6pm and 6am has only gone up by only 1% then surely the new laws have been successful as a whole. If drink-related crime has gone up 1% between 6pm and 6am and 22% between 3am and 6am, then can we assume that drink-related crime has actually gone down between 6pm and 3am? The answer is no, the figures are far too simplistic and until all the factors are considered and not just those that suit the needs of the press or whoever commissioned the reports, then we cannot jump to the conclusions they do.

The argument always seems to centre around one key decision, to keep or scrap the licensing act 2003 and the changes it brought, it does sometimes seem that local authorities and government have only one way of dealing with issues that arise in the licensed retail sector. The stick or the stick, there never seems to be a carrot in sight.

Maybe that is the reason the industry feels under such pressure and the reason those people standing up against the licensed retail sector feel they have to shout so loudly. The answer seems to always be to stop, restrict, increase cost and punish the whole of the licensed retail sector for the faults of the few rouges within it and more importantly the problems of drinking in public and underage drinkers (incidentally reports suggest that 50% of underage drinkers get the alcohol from parent and family members, hardly something the industry can control). Not many people will argue that there are some bad apples within the licensed retail sector, but does that justify beating the majority with the same stick?


For once maybe an alternate approach might work, why don’t we try and be positive. Instead of just going on and on about those few bad apples and tainting the whole industry and making everyone have to go on the defensive to survive, why not for once look at the responsible alcohol retailers and reward them. When the excellent retailers perform responsibly and meet the many quality standards that the industry champions, reward them with extra hours, reduced rates, community awards, less restriction and champion them as examples to the community. Why not strive to make the whole industry better rather than suffocating it so improving is difficult and giving those bad apples that exist a way they feel they can justify their actions.



Please visit our website at www.btbl.co.uk