Time is about to be called on 'happy hour'. The ritual that has kick-started a million drunken nights on the tiles, but has also been slammed as fuelling an epidemic of binge drinking, is facing a tough government crackdown that will limit pubs' ability to offer cheap booze.
The change comes amid growing concerns about the impact of round-the-clock drinking on urban life and a culture of casual violence and anti-social behaviour that is blighting many city centres packed with bars and clubs.
Councils will be allowed to intervene in cases where happy hour stunts are designed purely to get people drunk. It is expected to be based on a code of practice drawn up by the pub trade outlawing such stunts as offering free drinks during football matches if England score. Although voluntary, bars that refuse to join could be denied licences.
The move comes as a Commons inquiry is expected to warn this week that while a boom in the nation's nightlife - with changes in the licensing laws meaning pubs could open 24 hours a day from 2005 - could create jobs and help regenerate inner cities by drawing people back in, it must also be carefully controlled to avoid havoc on the streets.
Figures in the brewing industry welcomed the idea. 'We undoubtedly recognise that there are some cowboys out there who run irresponsible promotions,' said Mark Hastings, spokesman for the British Beer and Pub Association. 'Anything that is directly encouraging people to drink to excess is an irresponsible promotion, as is anything that encourages widespread drunkenness.'
However, an outright ban on happy hours is impossible, Ministers say, because it would be considered price fixing.
The new guidance on happy hours is to be published by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport this autumn and reflects growing concern over drinking culture. Last week doctors last week demanded health warnings like those found on cigarette packets be placed on bottles of alcohol.
Two out of five Britons aged 18 to 24 are classified as 'binge drinkers' - downing more than eight units a night (men) or six (women). Doctors are now seeing twentysomething women already suffering from liver problems because of alcohol.
It is not just drinkers' health that is at risk. Recent Home Office research found binge drinkers three times more likely to commit criminal offences, particularly violent ones.
The Government argues its plan to scrap early closing times will encourage a Continental culture of measured consumption, ending the frenzied rush to drink as much as possible before last orders. The Association of Chief Police Officers backschange, arguing that staggering closing times throughout the night will ease the pressure on police when the pubs shut.
But critics argue it may only encourage bingeing. The report from the Commons Urban Affairs Sub-Committee, 'The Evening Economy and the Urban Renaissance', to be launched this week in Manchester is expected to argue that booming nightlife could put new strains on citydwellers, warning local residents should not have to pay for extra policing, night buses and street cleaning to cope with drunken revellers.
The MPs are also expected to demand better late-night transport to ferry drinkers home. In smaller towns, taxi queues are flashpoints for trouble as too many people fight over too few cabs, while in cities women risk sex attacks by resorting to unregistered minicabs.
Crucially however the MPs - who heard from Minister Kim Howells that central Manchester became 'like a war zone' when its nightlife took off in the 1990s because of overcrowding - are also expected to recommend letting councils set 'capacity' limits, stopping new bars opening in areas saturated with them.
It is the sheer volume of bars fighting for punters that lies behind the ever more frenzied 'happy hour' discounts, says Simon Milton, leader of Westminster council, which covers London's booming West End.
'Happy hours per se needn't be a problem. What is a problem is when you have an oversupply of premises, there is price competition, and you get ridiculous, very low prices,' he said.
