Changes to Alcohol Licensing Laws (inspired by Lynn from Sainsbury's nee Jackson's Princes Ave) By Michelle Dee

On a slightly inebriated night a month or two ago, I wandered into Sainsbury's (we will forever know it as Jacksons) to buy some booze and perhaps chocolate muffins or maybe some frozen lasagne. However, whilst I was searching the shelves for bargains, I struck up a rather interesting conversation with one of the friendliest check out women I've ever known. I asked the kindly Lynn how she felt about the changes in alcohol purchasing hours.

Whether it affected the atmosphere in the shop, and whether she thought it was a good or a bad idea. What followed was something of a history lesson for me.

Lynn began by explaining that originally pubs were owned by the landlords, there was none of the big brewery conglomerates telling licensees what they should be selling and how to market their place. Back then you bought your pub you ran your pub on your own. This meant you could dictate your own hours and quite often these premises would serve alcohol from 5am until gone midnight. I was surprised to hear that extended licensing laws was not a recent idea proposed to bring us in line with European practices, as I had previously thought. Apparently the traditional working customs of public houses went on right up until the First World War when demands on the country brought about many changes in society.

It was found that the members of this essential sector for the war effort were spending too much time in the pubs.

Concerns about workers safety were highlighted due to the fact that operating the machinery in the factories whilst under the influence of alcohol could be extremely dangerous. Increased production of munitions to defend the country from the enemy was of up most importance and the factories and the country couldn't afford to lose these workers at any cost.

Lloyd George famously said during January 1915, Britain is fighting Germans, Austrians and drink, and as far as I can see the greatest of these foes is drink. By October of the same year a bill was put through parliament to curb the drinking habits of the country. The No Treating Order stated that persons were not allowed to buy alcohol for others and also dramatically decreased the hours pubs were allowed to serve alcohol. Added measures like increasing the tax on alcohol helped to reduce the amount of alcohol consumed by over fifty percent during the next three years.

It is only recently that these archaic laws have been reviewed and changes made to suit the needs of a twenty-four hour society. Lynn also made some other good arguments for the lowering of the alcohol consumption age. She said that children who are brought up with a healthy attitude to alcohol are not likely to rush out the minute they are legally allowed (or not in some cases) and drink themselves to oblivion. If a person doesn't see alcohol as forbidden, until reaching that magic milestone- then the attraction of heavy drinking wouldn't be so great.

It is widely reported that we live in a climate where alcohol consumption starts at a younger and younger age, that alcohol related deaths are on the increase, and binge drinking is commonplace across the board, so why not try for a new approach.

Extending the hours of when you can purchase alcohol has, in Lynn's opinion, proved a success for both shop and customer. The expected fears, of drunken louts terrorizing customers in their efforts to buy more drink, have been without substance. In fact because you can buy alcohol at any hour of the day, from the Princes Avenue convenience store, the panic of crazily drinking lots in the pubs before hand then rushing across the road, to get a bottle before eleven pm, has been removed. You can take your time, spread your drinking over a longer period and the result is less of the drunken stupor and more of the slowly getting sloshed. A far more pleasant prospect if you do like a drink now and again.

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