A not-so-happy Monday

I'm not happy today for three reasons. One, it's Monday and two, it's raining. As if they weren't reason enough, I find out this morning that those killjoys over at Whitehall want to ban happy hour. BAN happy hour? In a country this miserable?! Mr Brown, I kid you not, this is not the way to get the vote of a twenty-something-living-in-London.

Happy hour, for the twenty-something-living-in-London is a right of passage. We work bloody hard day in and day out to earn a crust and pay out taxes (which are all too high, but don't get me started on that), and at the end of the working week we want to be able to enjoy a few glasses of glasses of vino/ vodka and tonics/ shots of sambucca or whatever, and not have to pay through the nose for the privilege.

Yes, I understand that there is a binge drink problem in this country, and I understand that police resources are stretched because they're having to waste time dealing with p*ssed up idiots spilling out football matches and the like. Believe me I know all about the level of crap the emergency services have to put up with in Soho on a Friday night - my step-brother is in the Met and an ex-boyfriend of mine was a London paramedic who regularly regaled tales of drunken idiots weeing all over his ambulance to me (sorry to anyone who might be eating their lunch as they read this!)

But why do the actions of the few have to impact on the rest of us? I've never started a boozy fight on my way in or out of a Spurs game (I'm an avid fan), never fell asleep on the curb after one too many white wine spritzers. Nor have any of my friends. At the same time all of us - living in London and shelling out extortionate amounts on rent, bills, travel, student loan payments, taxes... appreciate being able to make our rounds a bit easier on the pocket.

And anyway happy hour tends to be just that - only an hour (maybe two) during which time you can bag a bargain beer. We save a few pennies, the pubs and bars pull in a few extra punters, it's a win win situation. It's a shame that we all look set to lose out on now because of the irresponsible few...

What do you make of MPs proposals to ban happy hour? Have your say in our forum area.

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Mark Denison said:

'Hear, hear'...or is it...'here, here' ?! If the price of a decent pint wasn't so high the poor publicans wouldn't have to resort to the 'evil' Happy Hour! Why are successive Governments so determined to wipe out two British inst*tutions....the English (read British) pub and a decent pint of locally brewed British beer/ale ?? And another thing....what about the social benefits of going out to have a pint in a pub as opposed to swilling cheap, tasteless, branded lager out of a can at home?? 'Learning' how to (hold your) drink and behave in a public house where you run the risk of being thrown out by the publican (or fellow drinkers) has to be more beneficial than buying 24 cans of lager for £10 in a local supermarket and getting legless with your mates in a nearby park?!

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November 12, 2008
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