No More Happy Hour? F That!

First of all, let's get things straight. I've been in London for the past 13 months and not only have I never purchased a drink for a discounted price during a "Happy Hour", I have been laughed at by bartenders on many a weekday afternoon upon asking if they had any happy hour specials. Well, apparently they exist somewhere in this, the windiest, rainiest, tabloid magazinist city this side of Kinsasha. All Happy Hour deals are going to be banned pretty soon because apparently they promote binge drinking. Really? Do they? I guess to some extent you may drink an extra beer if you're getting a bit of a discount, but it by no means I'm going to shotgun the thing into my face like a can of PBR on a summer holiday weekend.

The problem is clearly just part of lifestyle. It has nothing to do with the pricing of alcohol. On average, beer costs just over 3 times as much in the pub as it does in the supermarket. While just recently being disallowed to drink openly on public transport, you can still stroll down the side of the street with an open beer in your hand. Pubs close at about 11 pm or midnight on weeknights throughout much of the city. It gets dark at 4:00. Dinner is rarely something to look forward to. I really doubt that a 10% discount on beer for an hour or two a week is going to slow these people down. They've been drinking away their sorrows for.....well, forever. They will persevere.