Changing licensing hours will not stop 'pre-loading' – pubs

And they have blamed cheap supermarket prices as the reason why so many people drink at home before going out.

As part of the 2015 to 2020 Drug and Alcohol Strategy, to be debated next month, the Home Department has announced that it is to review the current licensing hours.

Strategy coordinator Andrea Nightingale was keen to address the new culture of 'pre-loading' whereby people drink at home before going out.

One of the ways to do that, she said, was to try to get people back into Town earlier. Shutting pubs earlier might be a solution, she added.

Cock and Bull landlady Michelle Taylor said it was clear that there was too much drinking going on in people's homes but she did not think changing licensed hours was the answer.

'I know Andrea Nightingale wants to tackle the binge drinking culture, and we do too, but I wouldn't say that things would change by cutting back our licence hours.

'The cheap booze in supermarkets doesn't help.'

Mrs Taylor's husband, Steve, who is the licensee of the pub, said alcohol was a lot more expensive in establishments now because of duty increases.

When youngsters saw the prices they decided to drink at home, he said, and it was impossible for establishments to match supermarket prices.