Please Scroll Down to See Forums Below 
Londoners enjoy new law allowing 24-hour alcohol sales
By Emily Behlmann
Associated Press
LONDON - Like some other Londoners, Chantal Faraut celebrated late Thursday night with a few drinks in one of the many pubs no longer forced to close at 11 p.m.
As far as she's concerned, that early closing time never suited an international city such as London. So, she welcomes the fact that England and Wales have just relaxed their drinking laws, allowing many pubs to stay open later, some for 24 hours.
"In principle, it's a great idea" said Faraut, 24, as she and her friend, Rosalyn Tinneny, 46, enjoyed a few glasses of red wine at the Kings Head, a traditional, smoke-filled, neighborhood pub in the Earl's Court section central London, where many people sat at wooden tables, knocking back pints of beer and other drinks.
But both of them are worried about what may happen during the extended drinking hours in towns and cities outside central London, where binge drinking can be a problem among young people.
Some police forces are worried, too, about what may happen Saturday and Sunday, the first weekend when the new laws will be in effect, even though Thursday, the first full weekday, was uneventful.
In the southwestern counties of Devon and Cornwall, authorities said they will put undercover officers in pubs to fine staff members who serve liquor to visibly drunk customers. The $140 fine is part of a strategy by police to tackle drunkenness as pubs and private clubs stay open longer under the new licensing laws.
The central government hopes the change in laws that had been in effect since World War I will stop the flood of drunks onto city streets just after the 11 p.m. closing time. But opponents say British consumption of alcohol - among the most notorious, although hardly the heaviest, in Europe - should not be encouraged.
By Emily Behlmann
Associated Press
LONDON - Like some other Londoners, Chantal Faraut celebrated late Thursday night with a few drinks in one of the many pubs no longer forced to close at 11 p.m.
As far as she's concerned, that early closing time never suited an international city such as London. So, she welcomes the fact that England and Wales have just relaxed their drinking laws, allowing many pubs to stay open later, some for 24 hours.
"In principle, it's a great idea" said Faraut, 24, as she and her friend, Rosalyn Tinneny, 46, enjoyed a few glasses of red wine at the Kings Head, a traditional, smoke-filled, neighborhood pub in the Earl's Court section central London, where many people sat at wooden tables, knocking back pints of beer and other drinks.
But both of them are worried about what may happen during the extended drinking hours in towns and cities outside central London, where binge drinking can be a problem among young people.
Some police forces are worried, too, about what may happen Saturday and Sunday, the first weekend when the new laws will be in effect, even though Thursday, the first full weekday, was uneventful.
In the southwestern counties of Devon and Cornwall, authorities said they will put undercover officers in pubs to fine staff members who serve liquor to visibly drunk customers. The $140 fine is part of a strategy by police to tackle drunkenness as pubs and private clubs stay open longer under the new licensing laws.
The central government hopes the change in laws that had been in effect since World War I will stop the flood of drunks onto city streets just after the 11 p.m. closing time. But opponents say British consumption of alcohol - among the most notorious, although hardly the heaviest, in Europe - should not be encouraged.
