How bad licensing bred the lager lout
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How bad licensing bred the lager lout
https://www.tes.com/magazine/archive/how-bad-licensing-bred-lager-lout
I’m sure we British drink too much. I recently checked this with our doctor but his reply - “you’re only drinking too much if you put away more than your GP” - was not helpful; which I suppose serves me right for seeking him out near closing time. Quantities aside, I’m convinced that, compared to the wine-loving French and Italians, we Brits have no concept of sensible drinking. For this I blame lcensing hours introduced in an emergency to boost factory production during World War One, and which inculcated Britain’s woeful “get ‘em in” mentality. At my school, the rationale behind Friday night revelries was to see how many you could down before the barman called time. It’s not surprising that town centres are such dangerous places when the pubs empty, or that the police are supporting a relaxation of licensing laws. Alcohol should accompany food. Wine flows freely in Italy but I’ve yet to see lambrusco louts smashing up piazzas late at night.
Those who oppose this idea point to trial runs where boozy behaviour has not immediately reformed the national psyche, but this is to miss the point. We must educate the next generation to look differently on alcohol and it will take a generation before we see results. Strict licensing created the lager lout, but not immediately. Relaxed licensing will wash him away, eventually. You cannot change the way we drink overnight. Given time, my daughters will even come to love John Humphrys.
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