Flexible Drinking Hours
223 wordsThis short editorial piece from the BBC hits the nail on the head about why our town centres sometimes seem to descend into chaos at closing time.
Transport systems virtually shut down, forcing thousands to queue for a handful of late-night buses and minicabs with inevitable disputes and fights; while young people bursting with beer spill out onto the streets only to be confronted with locked public lavatories.
Meanwhile, the skeleton night-shift at the police station or casualty department become overwhelmed by their increased workload.
I don’t think I’ve ever seen a fight in a pub (which isn’t to say they don’t happen — and I have seen incidents that were calmed down by swift staff action), but I’ve seen (and avoided) aggro in overcrowded late night fast food places and taxi ranks.
I’m all for extended drinking time. It even goes some way to sorting out these problems (staggering the load for taxis; toilets open in pubs), but the article is right — in order for the late night economy to work properly, there need to be night buses, public toilets, a sensibly sized but non-threatening police presence too. All those people are out spending money: without actually having any figures or doing any sums, it seems to me that it should be possible to balance the books while paying for this kind of thing.
August 10th, 2005 at 13:20
London has a good night bus service and those funny looking porta-loos in places like covent garden… I wonder if the loos have brought down the number of fights?
August 10th, 2005 at 13:46
Oh yes, I meant to mention London, but forgot. From my few experiences there, I get the impression that London is a lot better equipped for the late night economy than yokel provincial towns like Leamington or Nottingham (mentioned in the BBC article).