Coming down Hard on Alcohol (again)

Re: Coming down Hard on Alcohol (again)

A dunno whats worse anymore

Since uve brought this up, there is 1 thing that does my head in now when out. Tripple vodkas & "redbull" for e.g, seemingly they dont do them anymore thinking its gonna stop bingeing. But its bulshit & all about the extra cash, coz any1 who actually wants to get pissed for there money is gonna say Ok, no tripples?, make it 2 doubles lol. So alot of people r walking away from bars with a drink obviouslly stronger than a tripple!, & tripples r usualy strong... unless ur in digital 20 icecubes with ur shot.

What are the guidelines? This could mean that a lot of bars have no choice but to shut down because the other ones that were previously charging premiums on drinks due to the DJ's they had playing, are now charging similar. If people pay more then they'll expect better entertainment/DJ's otherwise it would make more sense to goto other places.

It's fucking stupid. In 5 years time I can see the streets of villages being overrun by drunken louts who's resorted to mass house partying instead of ever venturing into town for the club scene. Then they'll be calling for new bars to open that offer cheap drink promotions in an attempt to clean up Britain's villages

Face it, we love to have a drink and party

Facto! i could actually see that happening to be honnest lol

Drug dealers don't offer you cheap as fuck deals, and two for one offers, don't see why pubs and clubs should be allowed to do so seeing as alcohol is a nasty drug. Fair enough, everyone likes a good time, but the fact is, people in the UK drink way too much too quickly. Defiantly noticed the difference in regards to drink between England and Australia, even by looking at Facebook updates. Guaranteed that a good proportion of my English friends (especially my ex school mates) will have something like "is having a few drinks" or "the wine is chilling in the fridge" every second night, then "has a bad hangover" on their weekend updates.

Now in regards to people getting pissed too easily when they are out. Everyone who works in a bar should go on a Responsible Service of Alcohol course (like in the link below). You have to in Australia, and I've seen bar staff here refusing to serve people if they are too drunk, and rightly so. If you get caught selling drink to under 18's or serving drink to people who are obviously aggressive, you get your license taken away from you and you can't work in a bar anywhere in the state. You even need one to work in a bottle shop. If shopkeepers had to do so in England, I bet the numbers of kids getting drink from the corner shops would drop a lot - no license would mean no selling drink anywhere in the country.

Another thing I've noticed is the price of drink. Drink is quite expensive in the cities here. Think 3 quid a pint or more (I've payed 7 quid for a pint of Hoegaarden before). But there are places open 24 hours in the city, so you can drink at any time you want, and go on a big long sesh if you want, you just pace yourself better cos its not so cheap. The only places I know of where drink is cheap is the backpacking places, full of Brits abroad getting wrecked on fishbowls and the like. Its nice being able to go for a drink in a city without having people pissed out of their heads at 6pm due to the 2 for 1 specials at Wetherspoons or wherever. Probably one of the reason why people say Australia seems so safe.

However, in the suburban places, especially in the RSA clubs (like posh modern workmens clubs with restaurants attached), its cheap as fuck, like 1.50 a pint. So if you want you can get tanked up cheaply, but out of the way of crowds of people and trouble. These places offer free bus services to and from your house, so no need for drink driving. Aussies love their drink just as much as us (especially rum and whiskey), but they do it in a more responsible way, which can only be a good thing.

http://www.clubsqld.com.au/www/index.cfm?itemid=251

Ever thought why Australia doesn't have as much crime? Its cos people aren't staggering around pissed thinking they are Rocky Bilboa. Its all to do with culture man. My ex came out with a corker once. She's 33, got two kids, and when I confronted her about her drinking just about every night and letting her 13 daughter have a couple of bottles of WKD (which is not acceptable, I don't care what anyone says) she had a go at me saying "Its in my culture!". What a load of shite. Had an update from her recently. Her now 14 year old daughter got pissed at a friends house, then was raped by some 15 year old lad. Some culture that is. Fact is people's attitude to alcohol has to change. You're the first one to whinge about British society going down the pan, yet you are basically saying that its wrong that the government is trying regulate alcohol and change people's attitude to drink. I personally would be a bit gutted if drink got more expensive, I am coming back in March for good after all. But that's a selfish attitude. If more regulations mean less 12 year old kids raging it up on White Star and innocent lads getting their head kicked in on a Friday night, then I'm all for regulation.

well why not legislate to ensure that we're all tucked up in bed by 8 o'clock so we can't go out and cause trouble?
You can't change culture by legislation, there has been a heavy drinking culture in the UK since viking times, moralising campaigns by MP's who are pissed in the commons bars by lunchtime will never work. If they raised the price too much people would just start brewing their own.
Pubs and bars are closing everywhere due to competition from supermarkets and constantly raising bar prices will just accelerate that trend.
most people are half pissed on supermarket alcohol before they even hit the town.
Legalise weed and MDMA and everyone can go on binge hugging sessions and no-one gets beat up. man.:chill:

I'm mainly playing devils advoate here and giving a different viewpoint.

As an ex student and current leech I'm always looking for cheap drink deals.

I agree about your supermarket point.

And I'm all for legalising drugs, especially opiates.

You cant deny though that there is a drinking problem in the UK, and from my experiences its only getting worse. People started drinking at 14 or 15 at my school. These days (from what I seen when I was a youth worker) its more like 11 and 12. Something needs to be done about that and just because drinking is part of British culture doesn't mean that its not a problem. Guns are a part of American culture (and have been for 100's of years) and I think 100% of people in here would agree that its gun culture needs to be changed, so why not attitudes towards drinking, especially letting your kids drink before they even start puberty?

french kids drink from an even earlier age as wine is part of the culture. I started going in pubs at the age of 13 and would regularly drink myself stupid from the age of 15. it never done me no harm and since the kidney and liver transplants I have never felt better.

I agree that alcohol is a problem though, mainly due to the levels of aggression it causes.
I just can't bear any more nanny stateness. I'm sick to death of people telling me how to live my life - banning smoking was the first step .... it's alcohol in the sights next.

I wish we had a culture where we all went out and got sozzled enough to be entertaining without having to get comotose or beligerent or throw up on each other, but we don't, and banning things just creates an infantile mentality where people take no responsibility for their actions and expect the state to do everything for them.

Aye, I agree George Best, but there is a difference between French kids having a glass of wine with their meal and British kids getting wrecked on vodka on Saturday nights in bus shelters and the like.

I think that basically the problem is that we are an aggressive tribalistic nation, and that does not mix well with alcohol. Russia is the same, and look at the problems there. Everybody must get stoned and chill the fuck out.

wurd :chill:

For someone who considers themselves so openminded, thats a pretty big generalisation.

Supermarkets are a massive reason why pubs are shutting down, why pay £5-6 for 2 pints when you can get 15 bottles of Stella from Somerfield for £8

tbh most of modern societies ills have some connection to supermarkets

Factoid. If I had my own place I dont think I would ever go out again.

i'd say it's good idea to get rid of 'happy hours' - it encourages people to drink as much as possible as quick as possible - and usually at 7pm! Also some places have very cheap drinks while some are very expensive - they should be a nice even price wherever you go - like tabs.


but i also agree, supermarkets and their 100 cans for a fiver malarky is just exploiting the situation.

Throughly agree.

In Armerica you can actually apply for a smoking license if you feel the ban is affecting your business, god knows why they dont introduce that over here.

Definitely agree, a more even pricing system would be so much better - I always seem to want what isn't on any kind of deal.

I personally think it is the cultural part of the 'let's get trashed' thing that needs to be tackled. Simply putting prices up not only affects those who can't behave themselves, it also has a detrimental effect on those of us that can!