Experiment- stop serving alcohol- will it improve awareness of social distancing and reduce the spread? Discuss

[InthekeyofG]

Now don’t get me wrong, I like drinking beer down the pub.
However, after a certain amount I have less inhibition. That’s a fact of alcohol.
But I’m wondering, if for a trial period of time, alcoholic drinks were stopped being served in pubs, bars, restaurants etc - would that be one added way of reducing the spread of Covid?
Places could still sell everything else, including low alcohol drink brands.
People could still drink at home. I’m not suggesting complete prohibition as we know that doesn’t work.
What do you think?

I can remember working as a teenage barmaid when closing time was almost always 10.30.

People definitely got less drunk. They'd have three or four and then pick up a takeaway on the way home. I don't remember them hugging either although that was probably just the pub I worked in.

Daft idea. If you think about all the many situations in which Covid is probably being transmitted, alcohol-fuelled idiocy will be a tiny, tiny proportion. Plus lots of people would be so pissed off by the measure that they would think 'fuck this' and be even more inclined not to stick to the rules. Cue people ignoring the rule of 6 and re-creating a pub atmosphere in their homes with their mates. Nobody will go to pubs if they aren't serving alcohol.

There's no evidence that pubs are driving the increase in cases .

Can anyone find me a source that shows where the biggest sources of transmission are? I have a relative who keeps banging on about how pubs should be closed cos everyone's getting covid in them and I highly doubt that's the case but I don't know where I would go to find this type of data? Thanks

Just another reason for people to have house parties. Or are you going to ban alcohol altogether and make this total nightmare even worse? Because if you do, I'll definitely be panic buying.

Because I don't know anyone who goes to pubs at all.Restaurants, and theatre bars, yes, but not pubs. I thought they were dying off
This a brilliant mumsnet world snippet. Oh yes darling. Everyone loves just having a little snifter at the Opera. Especially those under 30. There's literally no city centre bars left in the world. Everybody is at the theatre now watching Ibsen doncha know

@XiCi I just meant that pubs are not places that the majority of people go these days.

I can't see how they are a major transmission vector.

The pubs around here seem to attract white men aged 40+, and no one else.

@MeadowHay

Can anyone find me a source that shows where the biggest sources of transmission are? I have a relative who keeps banging on about how pubs should be closed cos everyone's getting covid in them and I highly doubt that's the case but I don't know where I would go to find this type of data? Thanks

You'll find the government telling us what the biggest sources of transmission apparently are. The actual data is something they've been less keen on sharing.

I saw something on MN yesterday that said schools and care homes have the most cases.

People drinking at home is likely to be worse for spread than pubs as they then go off to work, school etc after no SD and lots of time indoors.

Think I’m going to abandon this thought experiment. Clearly the idea of socialising whilst sober is not popular and would cause problems for businesses ad other knock on affects that couldn’t be managed.
I wasn’t suggesting it would be for ever, nor a complete ban.
Thanks to y’all and keep safe

Well you can manage them, it's just that the management would involve accepting that a percentage of pubs will need to close because of it, and probably not all of them will be able to come back once the restrictions end unless you provide some kind of financial support. So it's whether you're willing to accept those consequences or not.

My friend in South Africa says the ban on all alcohol was to reduce hospital admissions from other causes as drunken accidents etc are a major problem particularly at weekends.

@XiCi

Because I don't know anyone who goes to pubs at all.Restaurants, and theatre bars, yes, but not pubs. I thought they were dying off This a brilliant mumsnet world snippet. Oh yes darling. Everyone loves just having a little snifter at the Opera. Especially those under 30. There's literally no city centre bars left in the world. Everybody is at the theatre now watching Ibsen doncha know

Of course one would only frequent a bar at the theatre don't ya know .

Pub is just a shorthand for establishment serving alcohol, possibly food too, but served in a casual way. Includes all those naice city centre cocktail bars. Plenty of them around.

Sadly, all that stopping serving alcohol will do will reduce the number of people going out, because it won't be worth it if they can't have an alcoholic drink. Most people won't want to go out and pay pub prices for soft drinks.

And we'll be back to early March when Boris was saying 'if you could possibly help it, try not to go to the pub' but refusing to tell pubs and restaurants to close, so they didn't have enough trade to open profitably.

@Ontopofthesunset

My friend in South Africa says the ban on all alcohol was to reduce hospital admissions from other causes as drunken accidents etc are a major problem particularly at weekends.

I know during apartheid there used to be loads of illegal shebeens and home brewing going on in the townships, for various reasons. I wonder if SA still has such a significant unregulated alcohol sector now?

@lughnasadh

The pubs - well beer gardens - I've sat in for the last 3 weekends and walked pass putters consist of groups of:

• 2-4 men/women wearing cycling gear with their bikes locked up
• 2-3 women wearing normal clothes who look like friends
• families often with 1-2 babies/toddlers
• lone men reading a newspaper/typing on their laptop

All of the pubs serve food so the majority of people apart from the lone men were eating as well as drinking.

The pubs/bars that university students go to have dance floors and haven't been open.

I must admit, we live in a slightly dodgy area, about as far from a middle class bubble as you can imagine.

Most people outside of the white male 40+ bracket (and even lots of those) would be too afraid to go near the pubs that are open here. Perhaps that's why I know no one who goes near them.

The countryside social hub places and city gastro pubs are not a thing here.

Pubs in Ireland are doing time limit in the pub - 105 minutes and you gotta go!

Probably a better way to control it tbh rather than being able to go the pub all bloody day til 10pm

Yes. And while we’re at it, let’s continue to stop festivals, theatre, live music, weddings, family get togethers, sporting events, children’s parties etc

FFS!

It’s a virus that most people need to test themselves for to even know that they have it. The average life expectancy of a man is 79, a woman is 83. The average age of a covid victim is 84!

No more restrictions, no more new normal, no more spying and reporting neighbours, just NO MORE.

End of discussion!

Because I don't know anyone who goes to pubs at all.Restaurants, and theatre bars, yes, but not pubs. I thought they were dying off

Lots and lots of lovely, popular pubs in my area, mostly with good food menus. Usually filled with locals, tourists and holidaymakers, walkers etc. Not sure where my nearest theatre bar is though...

I don’t agree @InthekeyofG
I’d rather live like this another year and keep my 90 year old granny with us another 10 years tbh! There’s not a bother on her, still lives alone - reckon she’s got a good few more years in her yet!! To say she’s had her time and if she’s killed by the virus oh well is a bit harsh really.

Can people not cope with just having a year of not having much to do - spending more time at home. It’s really not that terrible.

Unless your livelihood depends on people going out and doing stuff

Heyahun it's not about people not having much to do, it's about the amount of money put into the economy by the hospitality trade. It's about the huge number of people who earn a living in the hospitality trade. It's about the many elderly people living on their own, for whom, the pub is their only source of social contact every week. Etc.

I don't know about the unregulated alchohol in SA - would imagine it's still a problem, but apparently a lot of violence, RTAs and other accidents/issues are caused by alcohol. Not surprising in a poor country where people want to 'celebrate' when they get paid at the end of a working week - it still happens here even if you don't get paid in cash weekly!

Don't know if it would work or not.

When I was at university I lived in Rusholme which at the time was 1/3 Asian immigrant, 1/3 student and 1/3 indigenous British. There was a temperance bar.

BBC North had not long closed, the 'new' BBC building had just opened. The % of Asian immigrants (predominantly Muslim so non-drinking) increased.

2 things happened
A greenalls pub, the Welcome, received a preservation order to prevent demolition and stayed open.
The temperance bar closed.

It might help, but there's just no accounting for human nature.

Pubs in Ireland are doing time limit in the pub - 105 minutes and you gotta go!
Probably a better way to control it tbh rather than being able to go the pub all bloody day til 10pm

How does this work then? How would they know if you had previously been in a pub? Surely you could just move pubs all night after each 105 minutes!