Pub Opening Hours.

[Lynn_M]

The current pub opening hours of 11:00 a.m. till 11:00 p.m. (all day drinking) has been with us for about 10 years now. Before that (in England and Wales) it was 11:00 a.m. till 3:00p.m., followed by an afternoon break; then for the evening, it was 6:00 p.m. till 10:30 p.m.

On Sundays, it was (I think) 12:00 Noon till 2:00 p.m.; then in the evening 7:00 p.m. till (I think) 10:30p.m.

I can't remember as far back as the 1950's, but a passage in Alan Sillitoe's book 'Saturday Night, Sunday Morning', suggests that the pubs finished at 10:00 p.m. in those days! Is this correct?

[CheekyChops]

Yes I think it was - I was reading a local history book last week where it also mentioned that pubs closed at 10:00pm back in the 1950's.

[mike b]

Wasn't it 2.30 pm time called on weekdays?( I reemember a line from Alexei Sayle - "The pub's got to shut now in case we lose the First World War!")

[Lynn_M]

What was the book called, CheekyChops?

[Buenchico]

(2-part post):

Sorry,but I've got to start with a correction to your first sentence regarding the current licensing hours:

Current: A licensee can have whatever hours he wishes unless the licensing committee of the local coucil can find a valid reason to impose restrictions. (Most pubs in this part of Suffolk are licensed to 0100 Sunday to Thursday and to either 0200 or 0300 on Fridays and Saturdays. Some pubs have 24-hour licences). This has applied since 24th November last year.

Previous system: Most pubs were licenced from 1100 to 2300 from Moday to Saturday and from 1200 to 2230 on Sundays (& Good Friday).

Prior to that: As above, except with a break from 1500 to 1900 on Sundays (& Good Friday).

[Buenchico]

The above systems applied to most pubs in England & Wales. Prior to that there were many local variations. For example the following applied in 1971 (when, at the age of 18, I worked in a pub in Ipswich before going to college in Sheffield):

Ipswich: Sundays (& Good Friday) 1200-1400 & 1900-2230. All other days 1100-1400 & 1700-2230 (extended to 2300 on Fridays and Saturdays).

East Suffolk (i.e. in the next pub along the road from the one I worked in): Basically as for Ipswich, except that you could drink to 1430 at lunchtimes.

Sheffield: As for Ipswich, except that all lunchtime drinking was permitted to 1500 and there was no extension of hours on Fridays & Saturdays (i.e. pubs closed at 2230 on every day of the week).

Wales: In many areas, pubs were not licensed at all on Sundays. (I'm not sure what the hours were for the rest of the week).

In all of the above areas (and, indeed, throughout all of England & Wales), 'drinking up time' was limited to ten minutes rather than the current twenty minutes.

Back in the 1950s, there were regional variations similar to the ones above but, as you've suggested, closing time was always 2200. There was no 'drinking up time' and licensees were expected to ensure that all of their patrons left the premises immediately at 2200.

Chris

[maxi29]

As Chris says, there were no set licensing hours on Mon to Sat (although pubs had to shut by 23.00). It led to strange anomolies: when I was growing up, pubs in Hove shut at 10.30 whereas pubs in Brighton shut at 11.00, so there used to be a little procession from one area to the next.
Pubs on Sunday shut at 14.00 and the five hours before they opened at 19.00 seemed to stretch for an eternity.

[JudgeJ]

I went to Wales once on a Sunday in the early 1970s. Unfortunately it was closed. I haven't been back since.

[Lynn_M]

Thanks everyone, especially you, Chris; brilliant research.

Back in the days before pubs closed in the afternoon, me and my then B.F. would sometimes go to the Northumberland market town of Hexham on Tuesday during holiday time. Tuesdays was market day in Hexham (and propably still is), which meant that the pubs had all day drinking on a Tuesday. What a special treat that used to seem like! Also, we would often go to the Forth Hotel, Newcastle on Sunday evenings, and since licenced premises were still obliged to close in the afternoons, we usually found ourselves waiting outside at 7:00 p.m. for the manager to open up! Ah. Happy times!

[dannydingbat]

Buenchico is correct as usual. However, some licensees have applied only to transfer over to their new licences exactly what they enjoyed under the old licensing provisions. They could do so under Grandfather Rights and nobody could intefere except in extreme crime and disorder situations. This only confuses the issue as far as the punter is concerned when they are expecting to find later opening premises..