Pubs closing time

[I hammer]

Does anyone know if it is compulsory for pubs to announce "last orders"?

[Lowlander]

No, it has never been mandatory - is only a courtesy that some places offer.

There is a drinking up time (i.e. the time between last orders and closing time); this used to be a mandatory 15 minutes but I believe is now specific to the premises since the licensing laws changed years ago.

[JohnL]

Most pubs now (in my not inconsiderable experience) just close and they are more likely to come around and tell you they are going to close than do the one bell at 10:50 and long bell at 11:00 (Everybody used to rush to the bar at th first bell once)

They can also close at any time.

[????]

When I think back to the old days the one that always staggers me is Sunday lunchtimes 12-2 only! Had some great 2 hours sessions mind you.

[maxxi]

???? Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> When I think back to the old days the one that

> always staggers me is Sunday lunchtimes 12-2 only!

> Had some great 2 hours sessions mind you.

And it was the perfect excuse for a few pints before Sunday lunch.

[rendelharris]

???? Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> When I think back to the old days the one that

> always staggers me is Sunday lunchtimes 12-2 only!

> Had some great 2 hours sessions mind you.

The Sunday lockin, where one was pretty much forbidden from leaving the pub between two and six (or seven, was it?) was responsible for some of the best afternoons of my younger life.

[malumbu]

I worked in a pub in Aston close to SOTV in the 80s. Being Cadbury's area (Quakers) the licensing laws were particularly tight. We'd have old boys queuing to get in at 11.45 desparate to get away from the family on A Sunday. Not wishing to stereotype but they tended to be named Mick, Paddy....

There are views that too tight a drinking window actually causes more problems - in New Zealand it was down to one hour at one point, and blokes would down several, being served rapidly from a hose and then go home and beat the wife up.

So Scotland relaxed the hours years ago and it wsa a great shock when I was up there and had a drink straight after work in the 80s, or people would go out for a beer after 10 when English pubs were staring to close.

My only bad experience was at the Bricklayers a number of years ago in Sydenham. A coppers pub but also my regular at the time. They wouldn't serve me at 10.55 once even though I checked my watch against Big Ben they insisted it was 11.

A pub in Garston in Liverpool would allow us to buy multiple rounds just before closing time and then nurse them for the next two hours. I woke once in the toilet about 1pm with a shock, fortunately to find people still drinking.

[Otta]

I was too young for the sunday lunchtime hours. But rememver my sister and I being taken to the CPT for a couple of lemonades, then home for a roast, then in the summer up to Peckham Rye bandstand to meet the pub crowd. Happy memories.

[Mick Mac]

???? Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> When I think back to the old days the one that

> always staggers me is Sunday lunchtimes 12-2 only!

> Had some great 2 hours sessions mind you.

I thought it was 12-2.30?

[????]

No don't think so?

12-2

7-10.30

I think

[rendelharris]

???? Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> No don't think so?

>

> 12-2

> 7-10.30

>

> I think

Definitely evenings were 19.00-22.30, but I do seem to remember afternoons were 12-14.30, with ten minutes' drinking up time to 14.40 (and they were very hot on that, you had to be out and the doors locked by 14.40). But weren't there some local variations set by councils as well? I well remember the disappointment when walking in the Brecon Beacons in the late '80s of finding a (miracle on a Welsh Sunday!) open pub at 13.35 only to be told they'd stopped serving at 13.30...

[malumbu]

Licensing laws were local. In my early years pubs shut at 10.30 (10 on Sunday) but ten over the boundary. One pub close to the boundary had to move to the earlier time as there was a mass movement from other pubs to the one with the later closing time after 10 and big brawls. We'd have an extension on New Years Eve and you'd get extensions for our 19th birthday parties in the backrooms - can you imagine a time when pubs would allow 18th birthday parties? It was also amusing as you'd probably been drinking in the pub from 16.

Having family down here I knew that there were different closing times in North and South London. Later when living in Oxfordshire we had 10.30 apart from 11 in the summer. Then every where seemed to go to 11 in the late 80s before total liberalisation.

A differnt world

[Jah Lush]

Definitely 12 till 2 and 7-10.30 Sunday. It still fills me with the utmost horror.

On Westow Street in Crystal Palace one side of the road the pubs shut half an hour earlier (being on a border) than the other and drinkers would cross the street to get another half hour's drinking in before closing time.

[DulwichFox]

Jah Lush Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> Definitely 12 till 2 and 7-10.30 Sunday. It still

> fills me with the utmost horror.

>

> On Westow Street in Crystal Palace one side of the

> road the pubs shut half an hour earlier (being on

> a border) than the other and drinkers would cross

> the street to get another half hour's drinking in

> before closing time.

Back in the day when drinking in Bromley used to have to go up the roar to Downham for late drink.

Foxy