Been out for a drink tonight with a couple of friends. Pub quiet, everyone just chatting. two lads came in, and spent their time propping up the bar. Not young lads, maybe in their 30s In the hour they were in (before we left), they must have had five or six bottled beers, , chased down each time with a half a pint of spirits/ liquers ... first two times it was Baileys, then Tia Maria. not sure what came next. each time half a pint, (not just a shot) each time it cost £20 + and each time it was knocked back in one. I'm not one for counting units, but I'd guess that 40-50 each units were consumed in less than an hour, and they were still piling them up, in volume. As anyone who knows me will tell you, I am usually up for a drink, but I have never been quite so alarmed at the consumption and the willingness to serve. When we left they'd been in less than an hour, but were stacking up round after round. At what point does a Barman say no? never worked behind a bar btw, but I was genuinely alarmed at the willingness to serve again and again in such a short space of time. Realise this is their business, but at some point surely they have to start advising?
Surely there has to be a level of responsibility from the bar staff. If one of the drinkers had died because of their drinking exploits then wouldn't the bar staff be held responsible and culpable?
I worked behind bars from being about 17-23 (til about 2005), rarely saw anyone refused a drink, and if I did it was because they didn't know what day it was, so refusing them another drink didn't bother them. I suppose it depends how people are behaving, some people are so used to throwing that much down their neck that it doesn't really affect how they behave.
What kind of pub were you in? Serving half pints of spirits is pretty wrong to start with, but not illegal as such. Did you notice if they were just pouring half a pint or measuring out shots and tipping them in to a glass? The law dictates you can't serve someone who is drunk. But it doesn't say anything about serving them as they try to get drunk. Judgement call by the barman each time. I'd have maybe let them off with the Bailey's as a one off (quadruple Baileys is 200ml, so over ice would be half a pint near enough) but nothing more.
Interesting question. I run a pub, and in all honesty my willingness to serve depends completely on the person's behaviour. Some people can have seven or eight pints and be fine, others need to stop after two or else their behaviour can get out of hand. I don't think it's my responsibility to police people's health, as long as they appear to be able to function as a reasonable member of society. That said,the scenario you're describing is very odd,and not one I've come across. I'd draw the line pretty quickly in that case.
Wasn't there a thing a while back somewhere in tarn where someone died when there was a drinking contest between the owner and a barman and the owner had told the bar staff to give him water rather than vodka on the sly? Yeah, the bar staff definitely should have a duty of care to drinkers and should cut them off when appropriate.
The sale of alcohol to a person who is drunk is an offence under section 141 of the Licensing Act 2003. Such an offence is a 'relevant offence' for the purposes of a licensing authority's decision whether to grant a personal licence to sell alcohol. Where an offence is committed, the Police may decide whether to apply to the licensing authority to have the personal licence revoked. I can't see a definition of "drunk" in the 2003 Act, but the classical definition in law used to refer to a person who has taken alcohol to excess and who has lost the power of self-control. Probably a fertile area for lawyers!
I've never worked in a bar in the uk. I did in Australia and you need to have a Responsible Serbice of Alcohol certificate and can be personally fined for serving drunk people as well as corporately. It's largely ignored though to be fair.
A village pub that serves food. I don't know how the spirits were served, but the Bar Manager seemed to be ok with it. The two blokes seemed reasonably coherent when we left, but I can't imagine it ended well. The drinks they were having would have been bad enough over a few hours, but they were necking them.
They had a tab going. I've never been one for drinking quickly. I'm also not really into spirits. I generally steer clear. I like to have drinks with people socially, not just for the sake of getting hammered, although probably on too many occasions it's ended up with the same result.
Having a tab has got to be the worst way to drink. No idea what you're spending. I bet they wouldn't drink so quickly if they had to get a tenner out every few minutes. I don't really 'get' spirits. Either drinking them quickly just to get hammered or sipping them really slowly and not actually drinking much at all
Coming from the lass who has a facebook group about Sherry and likes every post on facebook that mentions champagne
