Calling time on 24-hour drinking?

The controversial 24-hour drinking ruling has been declared a "partial success" by Labour, the Daily Mail published yesterday.

Ministers say the consequences of this change in the law have not been "dramatic", but they chose not mention the 25% rise in violent crime between 3am and 6am and instead focussed on the mere 3% fall in alcohol related offences. The claims are due to be published today in a report from the Home Office, which will discuss some minor changes to the act. There will be a call for a stricter clampdown on drinking, with premises serving under-age drinkers on more than one occasion being shut down.

Labour have been directly criticised for this declaration of success by the Conservative party. Shadow Home Secretary David Davis accused Gordon Brown of being "in denial" and that the evidence against the 24-hour drinking was "overwhelming".

The Daily Mail's negative attitude towards the suggestion that the introduction of the 24 hour drinking law was even a little bit successful seems to reflect the opinion shared by many. Have our drinking habits, or 'drinking culture'- actually changed at all? 'Binge Drinking' is still rife and the idealistic pipe dream of a 'Continental Cafe-Culture', dreamed up by politicians did not materialise either-surprisingly.

This relaxed culture of drinking in cafe bars until the early hours in countries like Spain, Italy and the on the rest of the continent is often associated with 24-hour drinking, causing many people to believe these laws are in force there. This lifestyle is in fact regulated, with pubs closing at 4:30am at the latest, although many still choose to close at 1am. The weather must also play a part in European bar culture, as I am sure it would be less appealing if it were pouring down with rain.

Contrary to this majority opinion, in response to 'Have the 24-hour drinking laws worked?' by Stephen Addison of Reuters, Karma replies:

The idea that 30 months is a sufficient amount of time to detect a change in the ingrained drinking patterns of the English is ridiculous. It’ll take at least 5 years to even see any significant changes, and probably 10 years before any firm conclusions can be made.

Addison doubts that our drinking habits are likely to change, 30 months on from the act being introduced, pointing out:

Critics look around the heaving city-centre streets on a Friday night and say the new regime has done little or nothing to encourage the Continental-style cafe culture. Booze-related crime, they say, has not gone away: it merely takes place later at night now.

Journalist David Olser is evidently pro 24-hour drinking, preferring to blame our 'yobbish' culture for the rise in violent crime:

Labour’s 2005 decision to bring order to this confused situation and put de facto 24-hour drinking above board was clearly the right one, even though the impact is still being debated.

If loutish behaviour has become a problem in some places, that is an enforcement issue; this time the government should ignore the Daily Mail editorials – difficult as that is for them – and allow grown ups to decide when they want a drink.

24-hour drinking will continue to be a very debateable topic, but it seems we need more police enforcement to control the situation. Before it was introduced, drinkers left pubs between 11pm and 11:30pm and if violence broke out it would usually be around this time. More police officers were on duty around these times to handle the influx of drinkers and increased risk of drunk and disorderly behaviour, but now pub closing times are more varied and wide-spread.

Liberal Democrat Mayoral candidate for London, Brian Paddick, agrees that the decision has not been enforced properly, blaming lack of funding:

The Government’s approach to licensing laws is topsy turvy. Labour has loosened the rules on 24-hour drinking but not stumped up the cash to ensure the changes are properly enforced.