whatever happened to 24hr drinking?

As Max Bygraves used to say on that factual documentary series conveying interesting facts about the British, 'Family Fortunes' - 'I want to tell you a story' ;-) I was in the Mailbox last night (for our international viewers, the Mailbox is an exciting mixed-use development consisting of shops, bars, hotels, offices etc...) with a couple of dear, dear friends looking for a relaxing sunday evening drink. Unfortunately we seemed to have gone to the wrong place. We arrived at 'Penny Black's', bought a drink and got comfy, yet within minutes the main doors had been pinned open, i'd got goose pimples and our conversation was being drowned out by the dragging of patio furniture in from the canalside. The time? 10pm.... At quarter past we downed our drinks and decided to move on. We headed to Bar Epernay as the rumor was it was open till 1am. Sadly this was not the case - 10:30pm to be precise... 'No worries' i said, 'we've still got ten mins till the bar closes and half an hour before they kick us out'. Plus they weren't dragging furniture around... Approaching the bar, the solitary barman looked at me and said 'sorry lads, we've closed the bar' (as he continued pulling a pint for another chap at the bar...also one of our party was female...) 'It's not 10:30 yet' I retorted (this is getting more exciting than a Jackie Collins!) 'Sorry, we've closed the bar...' he replied with a look that could easily have been fatal. Believe me I was close to combustion. Britain's biggest city with international aspirations and Tony Blair's controversial licensing reforms and here I am, aimlessly wandering the streets looking for somewhere that will serve me half a lager at 10:20 on a Sunday... Absolutely, bloody ridiculous!!! - And the Daily Mail was predicting a social meltdown with us all sat in bars 24/7 - yeah, right, chance would be a fine thing. Finally we gave in and headed to 'Liquid Fusion' at Zinc. Sure they were open and I got my drink, but the idea was to have a couple of relaxing beers and a chat discussing weekend happenings, rather than 'going clubbing'. But no, this is Britain, a country that clings to the past like a man to a cliff who earlier in the day was going to commit suicide but later changed his mind.... pretty much a daily occurrence for me. ;-) My days in the UK become more numbered by the minute... Cheers!