24 hour party people

It's finally here.

No, not the day of final judgement, armageddon and all that. But the day the British establishment introduced 24 hour licensing.

Just when you thought excessive drinking in this country couldn't get any more, well, excessive, the government goes and does this.

A toast, therefore, to Mr Blair...

Personally, I'm all in favour of it. But something tells me it's not going to be a magical solution to all of our alcohol related problems.

A lot of people seem to think that by being able to go into a pub at any time of day or night will somehow create some mythical "café culture", just like in the rest of Europe. Or at least that Europe that British people seem to reminisce about on the flight home.

It's just not gonna happen!

Last year I was in a bar in downtown Madrid at silly o'clock, when I ended up talking to a fellow Englishman. Upon discovering that I actually lived in Madrid, he asked me how I coped with the pubs being open late. To which I answered something along the lines of the key to surviving four o'clock in the morning was not to go out until 12. "Ah", he said. " That'll be where we went wrong yesterday. We started drinking at seven, just as we would at home, so you can imagine the state we were in by four a.m."

Something tells me we are going to see a lot of this, people starting drinking at the same time, but just finishing late. At least until the novelty wears off.

There is an underlying cultural thing here. In many parts of the world, having a drink forms part of the night out. In this country, having a drink IS the night out. We don't just ask our mates "Do you fancy going out tonight?" The question is more precise: "Do you fancy going out for a drink tonight?" (I will get off my soap box for a moment and admit that I'm as guilty of this as the next man!)

Until this changes, if indeed it can change, the new licencing law is likely to make this situation worse, rather than improve it.

Interestingly, some pubs and hospitality groups are not in favour of 24 hour opening saying that massive profits are unlikely as in many cases the costs of being open later are likely to be more than the money that is made. And some people fear that it could lead to an increase in the alread high rate of mouth cancer and alcohol induced violence and accidents.

We'll have to wait and see whether it turns out to have been a good idea or not. But, the drinking problem is probably going to get worse before it gets better.

Cheers!