Triple Alcohol Prices, Cop Says ...
 

from the BBC ...


Police chief calls for £7 pint
North Wales Police deputy chief constable Clive Wolfendale
Clive Wolfendale said he got the idea from Scandinavia
The cost of alcohol should be trebled to discourage binge drinking, according to a top policeman.

North Wales Police deputy chief Clive Wolfendale said he feared the problem will worsen when longer licensing hours are brought in later this year.

Mr Wolfendale added that binge drinking was already a bigger challenge to police than terrorism.

But Rob Hayward, from the British Beer and Pub Association, said that pub prices were not the only issue.

"The big issue in terms of alcohol pricing is to do with supermarkets rather than pubs," he said.


The sight of young men and women urinating the street, fighting paralytic in the gutter is not part of a civilised society
Clive Wolfendale

Mr Wolfendale said he enjoyed a drink "as much as the next person" and said "an extension of licensing hours in a civilised society ought to be possible".

"But the reality is that our culture and heritage of excessive drinking, combined with the relatively cheap price of alcohol these days means this is definitely a recipe for real problems on our streets," he said.

"There are minor assaults, serious assaults, there are murders committed simply because people are under the influence of alcohol - it is a national disgrace."

He said the idea for trebling drink prices came from Scandinavia, where alcohol is considerably more expensive.

"I know it wouldn't be popular ... but for me this is the single most impactive thing that could be done currently to curtail the problem," he said.


There is a huge responsibility on the individual - we need education and information - we are dealing with a very potent drug here
Aneurin Owen, Cais

"Currently half of the violence committed in north Wales has a drink component to it.

"Many town centres are effectively no-go areas after 10 o'clock at night, and simply the sight of young men and women urinating the street, fighting paralytic in the gutter is not part of a civilised society.

"I think it is time we all stood firm and said enough is enough."

Aneurin Owen, director of Cais, the drug and alcohol agency for Wales, agreed that raising the price would have an influence on how much people drank.

"Whether we go up to three times the current level I am not quite sure, but I think there is a case for the chancellor to take the opportunity at the budget to put up alcohol slowly over time," he said.

He said that behaviour and the attitudes to alcohol needed to change.

"There is a huge responsibility on the individual. We need education and information - we are dealing with a very potent drug here."

Re: Triple Alcohol Prices, Cop Says ...
 

"remember guys, we gotta make sure to get in a rumble tonight, we can't afford to do this as often anymore."

Re: Triple Alcohol Prices, Cop Says ...
 

I appreciate reading an article that contains the word "trebled."

Re: Triple Alcohol Prices, Cop Says ...
 

The Brits don't binge drink?? :blink:

Re: Triple Alcohol Prices, Cop Says ...
 

Increasing the price will do nothing.. Beer is cheaper than water here, people don't binge drink..

In the UK it's to do with having to get as much alcohol down your thoats between 8.30 and 11 when the pubs close. Doesn't happen here, you can plot up all night drinking in the local cafes, it's 1 in the morning the place is full of all ages from toddlers to 90 yearolds, never any trouble unless one of the OAP gets a bit frisky..

Re: Triple Alcohol Prices, Cop Says ...
 

Pubs close at 11pm in Britain?

Brits .... What the hell is wrong with you people???

And for once, I'm not joking in the least. Seriously, that's just daft!

Re: Triple Alcohol Prices, Cop Says ...
 

Yep, that's why they changed the law yesterday, it will just take a few years for people to get used to it, and not drink 10 pints in 2 1/2 hours like before.

You can drink later, pubs can apply for longer hours, and clubs are open all night, but your classic English pub closes about 11.30, last orders at 11.
Unless you get a lockin..

Re: Triple Alcohol Prices, Cop Says ...
 

Someone also needs to point out that the Swedish have the highest alcoholic numbers in Europe... so high alcohol prices don't fix anything. :blink:

Re: Triple Alcohol Prices, Cop Says ...
 

It been a while since it was that tight here, my local boozer is open from 11am till 2am and has been for nearly 2 years now. It was allowed a licencing extension because there are no houses anywhere near it. :)

Re: Triple Alcohol Prices, Cop Says ...
 

Ok, so they limited hours severely to keep drinking down.
This caused people to binge drink in the shot time they had.
Thus creating fewer casual drinkers and more drunks.

That about sum up the wisdom?

And also, they finally got the idea and now pubs are open longer? Cool. :)

Re: Triple Alcohol Prices, Cop Says ...
 

last call at 11 is crazy! I don't even usually head out till after that. Bars in chicago can close as late as 4am 6 days a week, 5am saturday, the way god intended. And you can smoke, the way god intended.

Re: Triple Alcohol Prices, Cop Says ...
 

You know, when you put it like that.... :blink:

Re: Triple Alcohol Prices, Cop Says ...
 

I have the feeling whatever wanker who originally came up with the idea for bobbies not to carry guns probably came up with this one as well.

Yes, I hear they have guns now. Wow.

Re: Triple Alcohol Prices, Cop Says ...
 

The wanker who came up with the idea that bobbies shouldn't carry guns probably didn't anticipate how Americanized some aspects of the UK would become.

Re: Triple Alcohol Prices, Cop Says ...
 

Erm no, if there was a mark you'd be the furthest thing from it.

Pub opening hours are 11am - 11pm
Nightclub opening hours 8pm - 2/4am

So the drinking time is not limited at all, soon it won't be limited at all with some bars and clubs open 24/7.

People binge drink because it's the get as much down your throat in the shortest possible time mentality. Most of them still go onto a nightclub to throw more down their throats as well.

Re: Triple Alcohol Prices, Cop Says ...
 

Exactly.

Re: Triple Alcohol Prices, Cop Says ...
 

Well I was going by what El Pres said which was:

"In the UK it's to do with having to get as much alcohol down your thoats between 8.30 and 11 when the pubs close."

So if I'm further from the truth, it's because of the information provided in this thread. :p

Re: Triple Alcohol Prices, Cop Says ...
 

Ah, then I take back my remark about you being the furthest thing from the mark :)

Re: Triple Alcohol Prices, Cop Says ...
 

Thanks. :)


I think. ;)

Re: Triple Alcohol Prices, Cop Says ...
 

Yeah, here in Texas the local bars only start to FILL UP at around 11pm.

You know it used to be 10:00pm in England. All bars were shut between 3pm and 6pm too. Then an extra hour was given about 15 years ago as well as all day opening. I think this all started during the 1st world war. The powers that be wanted to keep the ammunitions and agricultural workers etc sober. Funny that it's only just changing to flexible full hours next week.

Re: Triple Alcohol Prices, Cop Says ...
 

The opening hours bit of the licensing laws were introduced in WW1 as the factory workers would spend their time getting pissed in the pub rather than down the munitions factory.

Rather like Income Tax (intro'd to pay for the Napoleonic Wars) they forgot to repeal generally it until now.

The copper what said it is from North Wales home of the Chaaaapel (boyo), where until a few years ago, the pubs shut at 10.30 and didn't open at all on Sundays... gives you an idea of where he's coming from :-)

Oh yeah, one more thing - we haven't called them Bobbies since Dixon of Dock Green. It makes you sound "quaint" Drav :-))

As for "binge-drinking", HVVDs. High Volume Vertical Drinkers has been the mecca of the brewers for a while. The brewers discovered if they put booze in a bottle for the same price as a pint, named it something wanky and took away the chairs, then people stood up and you could fit many more in a bar. Another phenomenon of making people stand is that they drink more (of the more expensive wanky drinks). And they made way more profit and could open more bars. Nice one.

Fuck knows what'll happen when they ban smoking in bars and all the whiners who "haven't been able to go out for a drink in years" come out to play.

Re: Triple Alcohol Prices, Cop Says ...
 

I remember being in Kentucky for the first time a couple/few decades ago. We sat down at a restaurant table and ordered cocktails before dinner. The waitress said "I'm sorry, but this is a dry county."

We all said "a what?" :blink:

No liquor sales whatsoever. Had to go over the county line (and past the patrol cars) to buy liquor.

Which we did....

(I was going through my "grasshopper" phase at the time. Kahlua and cream. The occasional Brandy Alexander, too. Milkshakes with a kick. Not too surprisingly, I wasn't even 21 yet.)

Re: Triple Alcohol Prices, Cop Says ...
 

Great history lesson, buddy! But what is "Dixon of Dock Green"? (Speaking of sounding quaint). :)

Re: Triple Alcohol Prices, Cop Says ...
 

It's a really old tv show from waaaay back when:

http://www.museum.tv/archives/etv/D/...ixonofdock.htm

:)

Re: Triple Alcohol Prices, Cop Says ...
 

I had that URL as well... I bet there's two of us that have heard of this new-fangled thing called Google :-)

Drav - not so much history, more context. As well all know context is everything.

Re: Triple Alcohol Prices, Cop Says ...
 

I betcha them google folks will come up with, I dunno, say a toolbar type of thing where you can do a search right from the browser. ;)

Re: Triple Alcohol Prices, Cop Says ...
 

Imagine that! So if someone wrote something and it appeared on a web page, I could, say, highlight it, copy and paste it into this toolbar thing, hit return and... I'd have search results for what was written????? WOW!

I tell ya, those Google chaps are clever little sausages... it wouldn't surprise me if they eventually sold shares in their company and make a million or two. Maybe even ten million!

Re: Triple Alcohol Prices, Cop Says ...
 

Nah... it could never happen... that type of thing only happens in dreams. ;)

Re: Triple Alcohol Prices, Cop Says ...
 

What's the legal drinking age in the UK? I forget.

I can say this much. The US will always have problems with young people and alcohol as long as the drinking age remains at 21.

Re: Triple Alcohol Prices, Cop Says ...
 

The legal age to drink in the UK is 18.

16 is the legal age to have sex, we like to start off young here :)

Re: Triple Alcohol Prices, Cop Says ...
 

Have they cleared up the clusterfuck that were our drinking age laws?

I think I'm right that it's completely 18 to buy.... but to drink, I think it used to be 18 for beers, wines, spirits, 16 for cider & perry, then 14 (or 12?) for drinking with a meal accompanied by parents etc in a restaurant. They may have tidied all that up now though.

Re: Triple Alcohol Prices, Cop Says ...
 

In the US it goes by state, though almost all or all are 21 now.

When I was 18, (after the Revolutinary War ...) Pennsylvania was 21. But since NJ is right across the bridge, we all would go there is all. LMAO!

Re: Triple Alcohol Prices, Cop Says ...
 

Even though they can go onto a nightclub, or a pub with longer opening hours,
probably 80% of establishments that serve/sell alcohol close at 11..
And most people are too pissed to go anywhere else except the kebab shop...
mmmm kebabs.

Re: Triple Alcohol Prices, Cop Says ...
 

When my husband went to college in Pennsylvania (during the Revolutionary War) he crossed a state border to drink at 18. I don't remember which one. That little "legal drinking" thing was probably responsible for the "shoot out" he and one of his friends had in front of the girl's dorm. They hid in the bushes and watched the cops show up. One of his favorite, albeit somewhat blurry, college memories.

Great word usage! :okthumb:
Excellent riff on Google. Points coming! :clapping: