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From the Dover Express and East Kent News, Friday 5
February, 1965.
LATER CLOSING APPLICATION AGAIN REJECTED.
Most "Drunks" since war.
Seldom has Dover Court Room been so crowded as on Monday morning
when, at their General Annual Licensing Meeting, local Magistrates were
called upon to decide until what hours public houses in the town should
be allowed to remain open. It looked as though practically every
licensee in the town was on parade with all the public seats taken and
many people standing at the back of the Court.
On behalf of the local branch of the Licensed Victuallers'
Association, Mr. Christmas Humphryes applied for an extension of hours
until 10.30 p.m. all the year round instead of only in the summer.
But for the third year in succession, the Magistrates refused the
request. Therefore, during the winter months, all the public houses in
the borough must close at ten o'clock.
The Magistrates also heard that more people were convicted of
drunkenness in 1953 than in any year during the last nine years. There
were 25, but of this number, only seven were local residents.
The composition of the Bench was Mr. G. Golding (Chairman), the Mayor
(Councillor R. Snelgrove), Mesdames A. C. Booth, A. E. Binge, M. E.
Crick, Messrs. D. Bradley, G. W. Blackburn, R. R. O. Barwick, G. D.
Clark, F. A. Holmes, and .S. Newman.
hearing the drunkenness figures, Mr. Golding asked the licensees to
exercise their judgement when supplying drink t people, especially
Service personnel.
"Most of them are young fellows and should not be encouraged to have
that one additional drink - for it is that additional drink which knocks
them over," he said.
Reporting on the administration of the licensing laws during 1953
Supt. H. A. Saddieton, in a written statement, said there were now 140
licensed premises in the borough and these were made up of: 115 fully
licensed houses, 4 beer "on" licenses, eight "off" licences, two wine
"on" licences, and 11 shops where other goods were sold in addition to
intoxicating liquor.
The licence of the "Golden Cross," St. James Street, was removed to
the "Wheelwrights Arms," Buckland Valley Housing Site, and the full
licence of the "Pavilion Hotel," Customs House Quay, was removed to the
"Trocodero," Snargate Street, where the six day licence of the premises
was surrendered.
There were 27 licensed premises in the Borough still closed either as
a result of enemy action or being demolished in connection with
improvements.
Twenty-five people were charged with drunkenness during the year, of
whom one was sent to prison, 20 were fined sand the remaining four
conditionally discharged. All of those people were males. There was one
case of drinking methylated spirit.
Of those convicted of drunkenness seven were local residents, ten
were visitors to the town, and eight were Service personnel.
Mr. Christmas Humphreys, presented the case for the Licensed
Victuallers' Association, referred to the outset to the fact that the
application was made on behalf of every member of the local L.V.A. That
was a most important point, he declared, because, in cases like that, it
was often said particular licensees were not awfully interested in
whether the application was granted or refused.
This year to put the matter beyond all shadow of doubt, every
licensee in the Association was canvassed by letter asking whether or
not he wanted the application made. And the answer was a hundred
percent. "Yes."
The Magistrates had heard the Superintendent of the Police describe
the licensees as a well-behaved body, people who conducted their houses
well and kept within the law.
Now the licensees were asking, as they had asked before, that the
magistrates should allow the experiment of half-past ten closing all the
year round to be tried. They were not asking for something which could
not be changed if the experiment failed. They were saying, "Let us keep
open until half-past ten, because that is what people want, and at the
end of the year judge the result."
The Magistrates would know at the end of the year, continued Mr.
Humphreys, whether increase in drunkenness had anything to do with the
hours of opening.
"I have heard today of the increase of drunkenness over last year's
figures," said Mr. Humphreys. "It is an increase, but the fact still
remains that only one person in the whole division gets drunk once a
fortnight, which is not such a terrible situation when you allow your
minds to go back to the state of affairs thirty of forty years ago."
They had heard of the increase of drunkenness in Dover, but in no
case had they heard it said that the licensees were to blame. It had
never been stated that people were getting drunk on licensed premises,
and no licensee had been summoned for permitting drunkenness.
Many of the persons who had been convicted of drunkenness were
visitors to the town. Wasn't it likely that they had their drink before
arriving here or perhaps brought their drinks with them in their cars or
charabancs. Others were sailors who had too much drink by the time they
came ashore.
If these facts were correct, and there was no shadow of evidence to
show that they weren't, he thought the licensees very justifiably came
before the magistrates that day and asked to be trusted to see that the
experiment was carried out successfully.
The licensees were, after all, speaking on behalf of the public - the
people who cared to frequent public houses and who wished to be allowed
to drink for a few minutes after ten o'clock.
"These people do not get drunk in that extra half-hour," declared Mr.
Humphreys. "I challenge you to produce facts that there is increased
drunkenness during that extra half hour."
In about half the towns in Kent, the all-the-year-round half-past ten
closing time was in force. As near as Deal those hours operated, and had
operated for at least thirty years because no one had been long enough
in the Town Clerk's Department who remembered when the change was made.
So, almost in site of Dover, they had the hours for which the local
licensees were now asking. Was it a failure in Deal? No one had ever
suggested that they should revert back to ten o'clock winter closing.
The tendency these days, and no one seemed to know why, was for
people to want to drink later, continued Mr. Humphreys. Early in the
evenings one would find the public houses empty and licensees would say
that their busiest time was between half-past eight and ten o'clock.
When ten o'clock came around the business was it its best, and was
extremely difficult to get the customers away.
Why had they got to go at ten o'clock, they asked. And what could the
licensee answer? Only that it wasn't allowed to drink after ten in
Dover.
But why wasn't it allowed, the customers would ask. And what could
the licensees say to that? They just didn't know, excepting that their
requests to the magistrates had been turned down year after year.
Hours of opening did not lead to drunkenness, and unless they had
reason to suppose the extra half-hour would cause damage to someone's
morals or health there should be no reason for the application to be
turned down.
A considerable number of people living in Dover came out of
factories, railways, and cinemas at about ten o'clock. Were they to be
told by law that they must go straight home without a drink on the way?
"There is a sense of injustice in the minds of the licensees that
they are not allowed to have in Dover, which they regard as an
infinitely more important town than Deal, the same hours as licensees
enjoy in Deal."
Mr. Humphreys asked the magistrates to once more seriously consider
that application. He knew that they had turned it down several times
before but they would not be doing anything remarkable or terrible if
they tried out the experiment.
The opposition would, no doubt, cry "Woe! Woe!" and describe the
dreadful things which would happen if the extra half-hour was granted.
But never once had he heard those who raised such objections coming
forward afterwards to prove that the dreadful things they had forecast
had actually taken place.
Mr. Humphreys concluded by asking the magistrates to consider
"soberly and quietly as he knew they would," whether they could trust
their licensees and grant then the hours which they had requested.
The only objector in court was the Rev. I. E. Evans, Minister of
Salem Baptist Church, who said he wished to make it clear that he came
that day not representing a body of people, but as a private citizen of
the town.
As he walked to the front of the court there was a buzz of
conversation from the male licensees present.
Mr. Evans pointed out that there were 115 fully licenses houses in
Dover, an increase in hours until 10.30 would bring 57½
hours more drinking time each night.
he moved a lot in the town, said Mr. Evans, and he
had not heard or observed any expression of any special requirements in
Dover for the increase in hours.
Mr. Evans pointed out that at the moment there
were vary few troops in Dover, and it seemed likely that the number
would remain small for some time to come.
"There is a R.A.F. camp within a few miles, and a
fairly good number of men is stationed there. But that station is a very
well organised unit and provides for their men sufficient recreation,
both mental and physical, and, I could add, spiritual, throughout the
week," he said.
Referring to shift workers in Dover, Mr. Evans
pointed out that not all of them worked the same hours consistently
throughout the year and these, together with the number of cinema-goers
when wanting to drink after ten o'clock could hardly be said to
constitute a reason which could be called special requirements.
With regard to other towns which had 10.30 closing
all the year round, Deal had been mentioned specifically, but, he
understood, Dover very often preferred to be compared to Folkestone
rather than Deal.
And in Folkestone and Canterbury the closing hours
were the same as those which existed at the present in Dover.
All the licensees in Dover were unanimous in
supporting that application but he would like to know, he said, if every
licensee actually belonged to the Association which had been mentioned.
Mr. Humphreys: All but four do.
Mr. Evans continued that licensees were not the
only people who were working under a heavy burden of the law. If they
went to the grocer or to any other shopkeeper they would probably say
the same thing.
This was greeted by loud laughter from the gallery
and there were cries of "Silence in Court."
It was said, stated Mr. Evans, that people did not
get drunk on licensed premises and the emphasis was on the preposition
"off." That might be true but they did get their drink from licensed
premises.
Much had been sad about the number of visitors who
came to Dover and though Dover said to be the Gateway of England he
doubted very much whether many of these visitors who pass through the
Gateway stayed in the town. If they came from the continent they found
that they could not drink after ten o'clock they were no doubt amazed.
If they went to other towns where half-past ten closing was permitted
they would still be amazed because on the Continent they were allowed to
drink during much longer hours.
And if they happened to come from the British
colonies they would again be amazed because there, in many cases, the
licensing hours were restricted far more than in this country.
"I am not here crying "Woe! Woe!" but I repeat,
Your Worships, that if you grant this application the kind of thing we
citizens of Dover do not want to see happen in this town may happen.
"It may not necessarily in the year in which this
experiment is tried but it may well happen in ten years hence (loud
laughter from the gallery).
"It is quite obvious that that statement has not
drawn very much sympathy," declared Mr. Evans.
"But I can prove that statement not in words, but
by taking anyone to certain homes I know in the district," he concluded.
After a quarter-of-an-hour's retirement the
Magistrates announced that they had decided not to grant the application
but half-ten closing would, as in the past, be granted during the summer
months.
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