New licensing laws ‘not creating a café culture’ shows new report

Early claims that the new licensing laws for pubs and bars would lead to a continental-style café culture in Britain have been called into question in a new report by researchers at the University of Westminster.

The report, Expecting ‘Great Things’? The Impact of the Licensing Act 2003 on Democratic Involvement, Dispersal and Drinking Cultures, was commissioned and funded by the Institute of Alcohol Studies. It looked at three by-products of the act – the relationship between pubs, clubs and the local community, the effect on the diversity of nightlife provided and the dispersal of punters at closing time.

It found that there was little evidence to suggest drinkers had adopted a more leisurely, continental approach to drinking, and only a small change in the diversity of nightlife provided in town centres.

However, the report found that the changes in licensing had had a generally positive effect on community relations in the areas examined, with residents and local councillors alike feeling that they had more of a say in the process of granting and challenging licensing decisions.

The report was compiled by Marion Roberts, a Professor of Urban Design in the University’s School of Architecture and the Built Environment, and Adam Eldridge, a post-doctoral Research Fellow.

They conducted interviews with some of Britain's leading late night operators, and Professor Roberts conducted case studies of four areas – the eastern fringe of London, Chelmsford, Newmarket and Norwich – over a four month period, including in-depth interviews with residents, licensing officers, senior councillors and the police.

The results indicated that there was a mixed reaction to the effectiveness of ‘staggered’ closing times of premises, with areas that had good arrangements for policing and transport reporting successes in the peaceful dispersal of drinkers, while areas with venues close to houses, or with narrow streets, still seeing problems.

Professor Roberts said: “This report goes some way to proving that while the new licensing laws have had some positive impacts, depending on the context, there is still a long way to go before the Government’s initial hopes of a more relaxed approach to alcohol consumption are realised.”

• The full report, Expecting ‘Great Things’? The Impact of the Licensing Act 2003 on Democratic Involvement, Dispersal and Drinking Cultures is available for download as a pdf document from: http://www.ias.org.uk/cci/cci-0707.pdf

Chief Medical Officer
One person close to government who strongly favours a review of the new licensing legislation is Sir Liam Donaldson, the Chief Medical Officer. Speaking to the Daily Telegraph, Sir Liam said: "Some of us worried about the decision when it was brought in and any review of the policy would be welcome.”

However, his concerns go wider than the licensing system to the overall problem of alcohol misuse and the rising levels of cirrhosis of the liver. Tobacco, he says, is a good example of a public health problem that is in hand, “but when we turn to obesity and alcohol misuse those are not yet anywhere near under control.”

Sir Liam wishes Britain was more like the Continent where he thinks teenagers are much less likely than their British counterparts to go out with the idea of getting drunk.

“In our culture”, he says, “getting drunk is seen as an exciting and status thing to do.We need to try and get away from that.”

His answer is to make excessive drinking more expensive. “I would certainly strongly commend increased taxation. The evidence is quite strong that putting the price up helps. Prices of alcohol have fallen relative to the cost of living.”

He also wants to ban alcohol companies from sponsoring sporting events. “It’s something that worked with tobacco,” he says.