WHEN a pub asks to open until 5.30am, the prospect of York becoming a 24-hour city turns from long-discussed prospect to potential reality.

That prompts thoughts of what sort of city we want to become. Most of us will welcome a more mature, Continental approach to drinking. Later licences will finally allow tourists and residents the same opportunity to enjoy a late night as exists almost everywhere else in Europe. And it should end closing time clashes.

In a compact city such as ours, however, there have to be limits and conditions. The fact that the Reflex bar has already dropped its 5.30am bid suggests that common sense is already prevailing.

Updated: 11:15 Tuesday, July 12, 2005