THE suggestion by the British Beer and Pub Association that applications for extended hours in community pubs is generally for an extra hour or so on a Friday or Saturday night (Will longer pub hours lead to a rise in problem drinking?, August 11) is not borne out by the facts.
Our village pub in Elvington has applied to extend its opening by two hours to 1am on every weekday and Saturday plus a further 30 minutes drinking up time. This is not only for the sale of alcohol but also for recorded music and amplified live music.
They say that, in practice, they would not open until 1.30am every night, which is the argument used by James Butler of York Brewery in the same article but, as he says, if there are customers in at 11pm who want to stay later he will be more than happy to do so. As a result, local residents can only consider the application on the basis that this could be a nightly event.
Mr Butler's argument that opening later would mean people aren't rushing to get a last drink is the same one used to extend hours from the old 10.30pm and look where that has got us!
As Judge Harris says "continental-style drinking requires continental-style people" which, unfortunately, we do not have.
Until we get the existing problems associated with excessive alcohol use under control the extension of existing licensing hours would, quite frankly, be utter madness.
Richard Starks,
The Green,
Elvington,
York.
Updated: 10:13 Tuesday, August 16, 2005
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