2,000 years of binge drinking (in Britain)

Booze Britian? Drink-fuelled crime and violence slump after new licensing laws take effect

We were warned: Liberalisation of drink laws would fuel disorder
The sober truth: Serious violent crime has fallen 21% - and is down by twice that in some towns - while there are 14% fewer woundings
As for drinks firms? They are reporting no windfall profits

By Nigel Morris and Julia Kollewe
Published: 08 February 2006

Serious violent crime has fallen by more than a fifth since the licensing laws were liberalised, police figures show.

Major industrial cities, seaside resorts and market towns from the south coast to Cumbria are reporting dramatic falls in alcohol-fuelled assaults and woundings after the country's antiquated drinking laws were overhauled.

The statistics, released today, will confound critics who warned that the Licensing Act, which allowed 24-hour drinking from November, would lead to an upsurge in violence and antisocial behaviour.

The figures cover the Christmas period which was predicted to be the first test of the impact of the new laws.

Leading brewers are also reporting only a modest increase in profits, suggesting the widely forecast drinking free-for-all has not materialised.

The Home Office will announce today that serious violent crime was 21 per cent lower in the final three months of last year than during the same period in 2004. The number of woundings fell by 14 per cent and the total for all violent crime dropped by 11 per cent. James Purnell, the Licensing minister, said: "The predictions that licensing reform would lead to an immediate upsurge in crime haven't been borne out ... It was always our argument that by getting rid of the firm 11pm closing time you would also get rid of a number of flashpoints."

Mark Hastings, spokesman for the British Beer and Pub Association, said the Act was leading to "positive changes" in drinking behaviour. "The doom and gloom merchants who predicted instant mayhem have been proved to be about as accurate as the worst astrologers."

In Bradford, in the five weeks after the Licensing Act came into force, 28 assaults and cases of disorder were reported, compared with 44 in the same period in 2004. West Yorkshire Police said there was a similar pattern across its force area.

A spokesman said: "The impact of [the Act] was vastly overestimated by the media ... it wasn't the police who said there was going to be chaos on the streets."

In Birmingham city centre, 326 instances of antisocial behaviour were recorded in December, 61 fewer than in the same month a year earlier. Police said the staggered closing times brought in by the Act had had a positive impact as revellers were not converging on taxi ranks at the same time.

Violent drink-related assaults in Swansea were down by a fifth over Christmas and the new year. South Wales Police said that the extra opening hours enabled officers to defuse problems before they escalated into violence. The number of assaults in Milton Keynes fell by 16 per cent in the festive period, while Hertfordshire Police reported 11 per cent fewer assaults and a 20 per cent drop in arrests for being drunk and disorderly. Norfolk Police said the period was "relatively trouble-free". Police in the quiet seaside Sussex town of Seaford said: "The Armageddon forecast in some of the national press has not materialised."
The reduction in violence came after a blitz on drunken behaviour by police over the festive period. But it is being viewed as statistically significant by ministers because a similar exercise was conducted in 2004.

The Government is cautious about proclaiming that the country has taken the first step towards a Continental-style café culture. But it is delighted that the figures have confounded critics, including judges, doctors, media columnists and opposition MPs, who warned that a surge in violent crime was inevitable.

The Licensing Act became law on 15 November. It gave all pubs, clubs, restaurants, off-licences and supermarkets the opportunity to apply for new flexible licenses. But only a fraction have applied to open round the clock, with the majority opting for an extra hour or two at weekends.

Millom, Cumbria: 'Closing time is no longer a flashpoint'

The prospect of 3am closing time did not bear thinking about for some residents of Millom, on Cumbria's south-west coast. Plagued by unemployment ever since the ironworks closed in the 1960s, Millom has had its fair share of drink-fuelled fights and this seemed like a recipe for more.

But to the astonishment of those doubters, there is evidence that the new licensing hours have made the town less violent. Arrests for violent crime fell 47 per cent last Christmas against 2004 - a statistic which has been attributed to the Licensing Act. "Chucking-out time used to be a flashpoint [but no] longer," says the local community police constable, Eddy Hope.

The extended hours have been accompanied by the introduction of a pubwatch scheme which means that any drink-induced crime can bring a three or 12-month ban from every establishment from Millom to Broughton in Furness, seven miles away.

"The police have steered us towards being more uncompromising," said Andrew Gardner, proprietor of the Station Hotel, Millom's biggest pub.

At the Knights pub, the landlord, Bill Wright, says he is now rid of his "11 o'clockers", who would order several pints before last orders. "It was anyone's guess what happened when they went off," he says.

The regulars seem happy. "There's no longer a scrum around the bar," says David Arthwaite. "I drink steadily but no more than I did."

Ian Herbert

It's only because it's freezing cold out there, Waltet.

You wait until those lovely warm summer evenings come around.

Hope I'm wrong, though.

Of course there is a basic flaw in the argument here. It assumes Brits as normal mature adults will assume a normal mature attitude towards alcohol. Brits are not like that.

French teenagers get the taste for binge-drinking

FRENCH teenagers are adopting the British habit of binge-drinking, with a craze for alcopops among girls and pupils turning up drunk in class, according to a state report and accounts from teachers.

Until recently, France had prided itself on its civilised approach to drinking and viewed with incomprehension the excesses across the Channel and the notorious behaviour of some British tourists in Europe. But the British model was cited by the Interministerial Mission Against Drugs and Dependency when it sounded the alarm in its annual survey of 17-year-olds across France.

French teenagers are drinking on average less than before, but the number who said they had been drunk at least ten times in the last year went up from 6.6 per cent to 9.6 per cent, said the Government agency.

"Nearly one young person in two ?- 46 per cent ?- says that they drank more than five glasses of alcohol on a single occasion in the last 30 days: this type of consumption corresponds to the Anglo-Saxon notion of binge-drinking," the report said.

French levels are still well below those of Britain and northern Europe, but drunkenness among the young is beginning to become a concern, say educators. "More and more kids are drinking strong alcohol and they have increasingly abusive conduct," said Dr Audrey Schmidt, an alcoholism specialist at the Clermont Ferrand teaching hospital. "When you ask them about it, they are not aware that they have a problem. They have no idea of abuse and dependence. Usually, they are drawn into drinking with others because it's fun and against the rules," she told The Times. [..]

Julie, 16, who attends a north-central Paris lycée, said: "It's true, everyone's getting smashed more often, especially at weekends. The girls are boozing like the boys, though they prefer alcopops and wine while the boys are more into spirits."

Antoine Lassarat, a 20-year-old Paris university student, said: "There are quite a lot of guys who are drinking a lot ?- to the point of vomiting. The girls usually just get happy. The boys drink Martini, La Manzana, Vodka-Apple. The girls tend to go for the alcopops."

The report said that beer and alcopops were the most popular drink for 17-year-olds, followed by spirits, sparkling wine, cocktails and wine. "The strong presence of premixed alcopops in this list suggests a close look at that these products and their marketing," said the report. The pre-mixed products, largely British in origin, appeared in France in the mid-1990s and were withdrawn from the market in 1997 after a special tax was levied on them. They reappeared in 2002.

Most of the binge-boozing takes place at weekend parties, but teenagers also point to the ease with which they can order drinks in cafés and bars. Open all hours, French establishments are allowed to serve wine and beer to 16-year-olds and spirits to 18-year-olds.

OUT ON THE TOWN

Proportion of 16-year-olds binge drinking* three or more times in past month

28% Germany
27% Britain
13% Italy
16% Sweden

Source: European School Survey Project on Alcohol & Drugs, 2003
*Five drinks or more in a row