Johnson needs to call time on daft ‘10pm swill’
IN Australia, they used to have the “six o’clock swill.”
This was the hour after they knocked off work and went to the pub.
With only 60 minutes to get a drink, they downed as much as they could in that time – braying, jostling and scrapping to get to the bar.
They behaved like pigs at the trough, lining up the pints to get round World War One boozing curbs that weren’t finally abolished until 1967.
Boris Johnson is plainly set on bringing this outdated Oz custom here with his daft proposal for a “ten o’clock swill.”
He’s kept the unpopular 10pm curfew as “last orders”, followed by an hour’s drinking-up time.
That’s a compromise that nobody.
It’s an open invitation to order as much booze as possible before “Time!” is called, and then down it before falling g out of satisfies the pub door. Who’d be a barperson serving that lot? Or a landlord trying to keep the peace with tiddly topers pointing at their watches, shouting “It’s only 9.59!”
Secluded in their London offices, with a taxpayers’ fridge- full of free booze to hand (and don’t deny it, I’ve drunk plenty of it) ministers have no idea how this foolish policy will play in real life.
Hospitality industry bosses are tearing their hair out at this latest blow to their pre- Christmas trade. They might get financial compensation, but there is no way to recompense ordinary people for the loss of social contact your local provides.
Pubs are cleaned and sanitised so often they are safer than many people’s homes.
Let’s get back in them, instead of shivering with a takeaway pint on the pavement, or forking out for a big meal just to get a beer.
Pubs are cleaned so often they’re safer than many homes