Extracts from an article by Roger Protz, Morning Advertiser

Put to the test

In spite of a late sideswipe at the supermarkets, the main thrust of Panorama was that not just happy hours but the 2006 Licensing Act were to blame for the chronic state of affairs in Oldham.

I put the new licensing laws to the test last Saturday night in my home city of St Albans. Before the new law came in to effect, St Albans did have a problem with drinking. It has half the population of Oldham, but a lot of pubs — close to 60.

Most of the pubs are crammed into the city centre. When they all shut at 11pm on Friday and Saturday nights, sensible people stayed at home. Over-beered people poured out of the pubs and mayhem followed.

Late last Saturday night, when I drove through the centre of St Albans, the pubs were busy, but there were no marauding crowds on the streets, “doing the circuit”. The pubs stagger their closing times. The 11pm swill and mass exit is a thing of the past.

So, Richard Bilton and the editors at Panorama, come to St Albans and most other town and city centres at the weekend.
You will find a different image to that offered by just one street in Oldham, packed not with pubs but with bars and nightclubs.
The BBC won’t show a positive image because it doesn’t suit the corporation’s agenda. Panorama, once a respected flagship BBC news programme, is now no better than the red-top tabloids and their wild distortions.

The beleaguered British pub needs and deserves better.