John Connor

Remove tax on beer. Remove tax on fags. Remove tax on petrol.

Government has *no business* taxing any product beyond the standard "sales tax" rate. Period.

As for town centres and binge drinking, you have to change attitudes. Easier said than done, since Britain is chock full of morons (well, we got Blair three times, didn't we - there's your proof). But notice how Eastenders and Corrie are set around pubs while Neighbours and Home and Away aren't. Says it all.

__________________
There are three types of people in this world: Libertarians, fascists and those who haven't been paying attention.
Russia: The largest tax haven on the planet. Which annoys the US a tad since they believe that they won the Cold War.

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Vortex

But the "Rovers Return Inn" was in Coronation Street since it started in 1961, and the problems we have now are a relatively new phenomenon.

Lowering of morals, values, i'm all right jack society, materialism, breakdown of law and order and promotion of decadence are all by products of the last 40 years of liberal/left ideology asserting itself over the land.

NickIrons

Having worked in the Licensed trade, this is a very grey area, it is,
as you pointed out, an offence to sell alcohol to someone who is,
or appears to be under the influence of alcohol. So if it's applied
as it's stated, you can never buy more than one drink in any
one establishment, as by defenition, if you've purchased a drink
and drunk it, you are under the influence...
So it comes down to the discretion of whoever is serving, so as
most pubs are staffed by younger people after a few quid, they'll
not want to get into an argument with anyone and just serve them
to save the aggro..
Just an observation.....

The Bear

Very true, but on the other hand if a few pubs lost their licenses because of breaking the law the rest would damm soon smarten up their acts.

Maybe justification for re-introducing the principle of "dans ce pays-ci, il est bon de tuer de temps en temps un amiral pour encourager les autres"

NickIrons

C'est pal mal comme idée, ton français est bien, je suis d'accord
avec ca. Un fois un ou deux ont été denoncé le reste vont se
faire en ordre.

The Bear

LOL!

Thanks for the compliment but it's not my French, it's a direct quote from Voltaires "Candide" in relation to how the British motivate their admirals in the navy!

NickIrons

Joking aside, I've worked in the Licensed trade in the UK (90's)
but now live in continental Europe where licensing and alcohol
are much different to the UK. Your point about making an
example of certain establishments may work, but I think here,
and in most European countries, the job of a bar tender/server/
bar staff/somellier etc is a recognised trade, not a min wage
stop gap as it is in the UK with staff coming and going more
frequently than beer barrels. Maybe as we (The UK) have a
very healthy alcohol trade, it might be an idea to make the
humble bar person, or the job itself, a more worthwhile
proposition to those who take it, and in doing so, have more
responsible servers with experience who will refuse to serve
underage drinkers, known troublemakers and the like for the
better cause, what you reckon?
ATB.

The Bear

Works for me.

stathan

I spent some time living in Wisconsin.


To bartend you must have a licence.


If you serve anyone under the age of 21 you lose your individual licence and your job with it.


Simple really!

brian pearson

Just been for a couple of drinks after finding ourselves childless for an hour. Unfortunately the tenner I had in my pocket only stretched to one round (one pint of bitter and half a lager, £5.20).

Been a while since we have been out at lunchtime or anytime come to that and got quite a shock. Not only at the prices but the pub in question was dead. This used to be full to the rafters on a Sunday afternoon.

As the economy struggles and less money is disposable thanks to our dictatorship government it looks like another institution will be killed off.