Do we need to talk about North London's drinking problem?

By Mike Pollitt
20 August 2012, 10:49

Islington council may charge bars to stay open after midnight, the BBC reports. This may lead to more expensive drinks in the wee hours, as venues pass on the cost to drinkers. Not that you’ll notice anyway, until the next morning when you find the receipt for that impulsive last round in the bottom of your wallet where you thought a £20 note would be.

According to the council, the money raised from charges would go towards policing and clean up costs. The council says:

“…it has a “very serious late-night drinking problem” with crime, disorder and mess on its streets.”

Councillor Paul Convery went on:

“We went through a phase where we thought, as a borough, that the late night economy was a good thing. We’re now coming to the conclusion that it’s got some very high costs and real problems associated with it”.

And to think that only three weeks ago we were asking whether East London needed an intervention about its drinking problem. The whole city is at it. Shame on us all.

Can you disagree with this policy? It’s surely right for clean up costs to be transferred to the heavily boozed. Getting pissed until 4am is a perfectly reasonable way to pass an evening, but that doesn’t mean it has to be cheap.

BBC London – Islington bars face late-night drinking levy
Snipe – Do we need to talk about East London’s drinking problem?
Snipe – All posts about the demon booze