A moment in history

As England and Wales brace themselves for the much hyped 24 hour drinking laws, Dominic Roskrow argues it need not lead to onslaught of drunken behaviour

It’s not often that you get to be part of history. But as we went to press with this issue England and Wales were taking the monumental step of joining the rest of the civilised world and allowing its pubs to extend their opening hours.

This being the United Kingdom, the move came accompanied by media hysteria about potential drunkenness and debauchery, of rioting in the street and the end of society as we know it.

If you’re reading this anywhere but Britain, then bear with me. Heaven knows what you think of us Brits, who are clearly just one pint away from murder and mayhem.

Let’s not get in to the rights and wrongs of extended bar opening here. And let’s brush over the fact that in Britain the biggest sellers of beer are supermarkets and not pubs, and many of those are open for 24 hours.

Or that night clubs have had licences until 3am and 4am for years, and that it’s nearly 20 years since Sheffield, Manchester and Leeds battled with each other to lay claim to being England’s first 24 hour drinking city. Last I looked all three of them seemed to be existing in some semblance of order – and features in this issue from all three cities would back this view up.

Truth be told, there remains a snobbery about beer. The darlings of the fourth estate see no hypocrisy in predicting widescale alcohol abuse because pubs stay open longer or the fact that they spend half their lives falling out of wine bars and private members’ clubs. Or that national politicians have had access to 24 hour drinking for years.

Three bottles of wine with dinner and then a few glasses of spirits? Civilised behaviour. A pint of lager past midnight? Decadence of the grandest order.

Those of us who care about beer and enjoy it for what it is should stand up against this prejudicial nonsense. We need to focus on all the positives of beer and encourage people to view it in a fresh light.

Indeed we could do a lot worse than learn a lesson or two from our sister industry, that of whisky. What whisky enthusiasts have done is draw a clear distinction between the mass market, where whisky is consumed in volume, and the premium sector, where fine whiskies are appreciated and respected.

A high percentage of those falling over in the High Street every weekend are not beer drinkers. They drink vodka at home until 10pm, neck some fruit flavoured spirit-based drink till late, then hit the clubs.

Not only is beer not really part of this world but in the main, neither are pubs. And these are certainly not the places where beer enthusiasts tend to dwell.

Youth will be youth and I’m not knocking their behaviour – they’ll learn. But I’ll be damned if I’m going to have one of my favourite pastimes driven on to the back foot because someone is too stupid or ignorant to spot the difference between my world and the High Street one.

That’s why it’s so exciting to fill these pages with flavour, personality and style, and why it’s so satisfying to see the occasional national journalist drink beer instead of wine with food and – shock! horror! – find they work well together.

If we’re doing our job right then more journalists in Britain will realise that there are not only legions of people across the world that have more respect for beer than they do, but there are many in Britain, too.

By Dominic Roskrow

Section : From the Editor

Page number : 5