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14-08-2023, 07:18
Visit the Shut up about Barclay Perkins site (http://barclayperkins.blogspot.com/2023/08/how-scots-got-to-drink-all-day.html)
https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBdO-r9aq_Q_iVsrTyg0ilb70oJCED9pDNOOG9pY8aj2yoirUe7ACoq Fic4bCOMfMpGku3r-wYFFeIDaY4Wsk_xUwWaG1Gklh8ndYnGd-S-vt8d-KVcPfZUPVWgoEK5QcgJC2UC5vK34ScUEyHlWUIQ7hyyez4-anhNKQTUYemCV5fNo0UW47UNFd2Pkk/w310-h400/Gordon_and_Blair_Scotch_Ale_2.jpg (https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBdO-r9aq_Q_iVsrTyg0ilb70oJCED9pDNOOG9pY8aj2yoirUe7ACoq Fic4bCOMfMpGku3r-wYFFeIDaY4Wsk_xUwWaG1Gklh8ndYnGd-S-vt8d-KVcPfZUPVWgoEK5QcgJC2UC5vK34ScUEyHlWUIQ7hyyez4-anhNKQTUYemCV5fNo0UW47UNFd2Pkk/s249/Gordon_and_Blair_Scotch_Ale_2.jpg)
It being a quiet Sunday, I've been nosing around in Licensing Acts from the 1960s and 1970s. Important research for my book "Keg!".
Something which really intrigues me is how Scotland went from the most restrictive licensing laws in the UK to the most liberal in the 1970s.
I was dead jealous when my school friend Henry, who studied in Aberdeen, told me of pubs not only staying open all afternoon, but until 1 AM. All totally legal. And totally due to the interpretation of a new Licensing Act for Scotland. Which, I'm pretty sure, wasn't intended to liberalise opening hours to the extent that it did.
If there had still been a large, organised temperance movement, I'm sure that they would have put pressure on magistrates not to grant longer opening hours. If they weren't already on the licensing bench already.
I can remember visiting Edinburgh in the late 1970s and wondering at the continental-style opening hours. And wondering why the same liberal treatment couldn't have been given to the rules in England. It wasn't until the 1990s that a similar regime was introduced in England.
The relevant legislation that prompted this revolution in allowing punters to buy a pint at 4 PM was the Licensing (Scotland) Act of 1976.
One provision, which I’m not sure was acted on, was like a return to beer houses. Because it gave licensing authorities the power to forbid the sale of spirits. Which is a bit odd as this is around the time beer house licences were being wound down
The real surprise though, is the list of permitted alcoholic drinks.
29.- (1) A licence granted under this Act by. a licensing board shall authorise the holder thereof to sell by retail spirits, wine, made-wine, porter, ale, beer, cider, perry, and any other alcoholic liquor: Provided that the licensing board may, when granting a licence or an application for an extension of the permitted hours, restrict the alcoholic liquor which may be sold thereunder to wine, made-wine, porter, ale, beer, cider and perry. (2) Where by virtue of a decision of a licensing board under the proviso to subsection (1) above only alcoholic liquor other than spirits may be sold, it shall be an offence for the licence or his employee or agent to sell spirits. Why on earth was the Act mentioning Porter by name? When there probably hadn’t been any sold in Scotland since the 19th century.
The legislated hadn’t been intended to extend opening hours. But in a remarkable display of common sense, the licensing authorities were very generous in interpreting the provision for granting permanent extensions to permitted hours. Soon, longer hours were the norm in Scotland.
More... (http://barclayperkins.blogspot.com/2023/08/how-scots-got-to-drink-all-day.html)
https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBdO-r9aq_Q_iVsrTyg0ilb70oJCED9pDNOOG9pY8aj2yoirUe7ACoq Fic4bCOMfMpGku3r-wYFFeIDaY4Wsk_xUwWaG1Gklh8ndYnGd-S-vt8d-KVcPfZUPVWgoEK5QcgJC2UC5vK34ScUEyHlWUIQ7hyyez4-anhNKQTUYemCV5fNo0UW47UNFd2Pkk/w310-h400/Gordon_and_Blair_Scotch_Ale_2.jpg (https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBdO-r9aq_Q_iVsrTyg0ilb70oJCED9pDNOOG9pY8aj2yoirUe7ACoq Fic4bCOMfMpGku3r-wYFFeIDaY4Wsk_xUwWaG1Gklh8ndYnGd-S-vt8d-KVcPfZUPVWgoEK5QcgJC2UC5vK34ScUEyHlWUIQ7hyyez4-anhNKQTUYemCV5fNo0UW47UNFd2Pkk/s249/Gordon_and_Blair_Scotch_Ale_2.jpg)
It being a quiet Sunday, I've been nosing around in Licensing Acts from the 1960s and 1970s. Important research for my book "Keg!".
Something which really intrigues me is how Scotland went from the most restrictive licensing laws in the UK to the most liberal in the 1970s.
I was dead jealous when my school friend Henry, who studied in Aberdeen, told me of pubs not only staying open all afternoon, but until 1 AM. All totally legal. And totally due to the interpretation of a new Licensing Act for Scotland. Which, I'm pretty sure, wasn't intended to liberalise opening hours to the extent that it did.
If there had still been a large, organised temperance movement, I'm sure that they would have put pressure on magistrates not to grant longer opening hours. If they weren't already on the licensing bench already.
I can remember visiting Edinburgh in the late 1970s and wondering at the continental-style opening hours. And wondering why the same liberal treatment couldn't have been given to the rules in England. It wasn't until the 1990s that a similar regime was introduced in England.
The relevant legislation that prompted this revolution in allowing punters to buy a pint at 4 PM was the Licensing (Scotland) Act of 1976.
One provision, which I’m not sure was acted on, was like a return to beer houses. Because it gave licensing authorities the power to forbid the sale of spirits. Which is a bit odd as this is around the time beer house licences were being wound down
The real surprise though, is the list of permitted alcoholic drinks.
29.- (1) A licence granted under this Act by. a licensing board shall authorise the holder thereof to sell by retail spirits, wine, made-wine, porter, ale, beer, cider, perry, and any other alcoholic liquor: Provided that the licensing board may, when granting a licence or an application for an extension of the permitted hours, restrict the alcoholic liquor which may be sold thereunder to wine, made-wine, porter, ale, beer, cider and perry. (2) Where by virtue of a decision of a licensing board under the proviso to subsection (1) above only alcoholic liquor other than spirits may be sold, it shall be an offence for the licence or his employee or agent to sell spirits. Why on earth was the Act mentioning Porter by name? When there probably hadn’t been any sold in Scotland since the 19th century.
The legislated hadn’t been intended to extend opening hours. But in a remarkable display of common sense, the licensing authorities were very generous in interpreting the provision for granting permanent extensions to permitted hours. Soon, longer hours were the norm in Scotland.
More... (http://barclayperkins.blogspot.com/2023/08/how-scots-got-to-drink-all-day.html)