The 24-hour drinking laws are pointless and should be scrapped, according to a leading City Councillor.
Councillor Antony Little, who is also the Conservatives’ Parliamentary spokesman for Norwich South, made his comments after figures were released showing that only two establishments in Norwich had applied for 24-hour licences but had eventually decided not to use them.
There are 190,000 licensed premises in the UK but only 6,300 have applied for 24-hour drinking licences. Licences have been granted to 640 pubs and clubs across the country, including the two establishments in Norwich which have traditional hours of drinking.
Cllr Little discovered these figures after attending a meeting of the Norwich City Council Licensing Committee last night.
He said: “This is a classic piece of Labour legislation as it is an unnecessary and impracticable gimmick designed to win short-term popularity. However people are not fooled that easily. There has been little, if no, demand for 24-hour drinking and the picture in Norwich certainly reflects the unease felt towards this.
“The Conservatives have made a clear commitment to scrap this wholly unnecessary law. Not only would this allow the market to decide whether punters actually want to drink round the clock but it also sends a signal that we are serious bout tackling alcohol-related problems.”
December 8, 2008 at 1:52 pm
Antony, I feel you are confused on this matter.
If the 24-hour licenses are not being used, then what is the problem? Your argument is like saying we should take the vote away from women if not enough of them do it.
24-hour licensing is not a “law” as such, it is surely more of an ‘un-law’, i.e. deregulation of pre-World War I drinking restrictions, and I really don’t think Conservatives – with all their talk about personal responsibility and reducing the role of the state – should be supporting what is effectively a state imposed bedtime.
And scrapping late licenses would “allow the market to decide whether punters actually want to drink round the clock” would it?! So how does that work again???! Very strange logic!