Last week I spent an enjoyable few days in Edinburgh at the fringe. While queuing in shops I saw legal notices concerning new restrictions on alcohol advertising, product placement and the banning of vouchers for cheap booze (even CAMRA vouchers are now a “no-go”).The Scottish Executive have also announced plans to consider increasing the unit price of alcohol and even restricting under 21’s from buying booze.
How things change? Scotland now seems to be taking a lead in reintroducing restrictions on alcohol. Talk about reinventing the wheel? Things seem very different away from the Edinburgh I knew in the mid 1980’s.
Coming fresh from an English and Wales booze licensing prospective - I was astonished at the liberal Scottish Licensing laws. Pubs open all day, every day. I even had a part time job in a dodgy nightclub in Rose Street (run by a well-known local gangster). We used to close the club for 4am then go off ourselves to another licensed club that opened until 6am.
Maybe licensing laws are like economic cycles? The freedom to booze 24/7 that first started in Scotland and later adopted in England and Wales will now start to be reversed in the land of its birth.
There is a long way to go. Mrs Grayee was until very recently on one of her “no booze” health kicks. In our first Edinburgh restaurant we went for a meal and the waiter was visibly shocked and confused that she did not want a drink. The following night in another restaurant my order for one glass of red wine for me was automatically turned into two glasses for the both of us. While in a cosmopolitan pub in Newington, my enquiry about the possibility of buying a non-alcoholic drink was greeted with a broad grin from the barmaid who proudly announced that they did once have some Kalibar in stock but it had all gone out of date!
We went to see the popular fringe event the “Credit Crunch Cabaret” show with Frank Skinner in the Assembly Rooms. The well known teetotaller Frank was doing his job as compere by abusing folk who were coming into the theatre late - one of whom who was obviously “worse for wear” turned round and offered Frank a drink of beer from his glass. Frank reminded him that he was a recovering alcoholic and should not really be offered a drink. The drunk did not seem that bothered by Frank’s response and even seemed a little pleased that he could keep all his drink to himself.
If any non-Scots are feeling too smug, I suggest they go to any British Wetherspoon pub for a cooked breakfast at 9am on a Saturday morning and see how many people there are not eating but drinking their first pint of beer of the day.
(Picture is from a previous campaign to try to persuade people not to drink - which was for some reason unsuccessful)
