Peaceful 24-Hour Party People

Kerry Howley | February 8, 2006

In November Britain finally liberalized its drinking laws, allowing pubs to stay open past 11. Opponents predicted a Guinness-soaked orgy of violent chaos. Three months later, The Independent checks in:

Serious violent crime has fallen by more than a fifth since the licensing laws were liberalised, police figures show.

Major industrial cities, seaside resorts and market towns from the south coast to Cumbria are reporting dramatic falls in alcohol-fuelled assaults and woundings after the country's antiquated drinking laws were overhauled.

The Home Office will announce today that serious violent crime was 21 per cent lower in the final three months of last year than during the same period in 2004. The number of woundings fell by 14 per cent and the total for all violent crime dropped by 11 per cent.

Whole thing here.