Drink

     Within our society today, binge drinking is seen as something that encapsulates our generation of youths and young people. It is fairly common sense that this is not a good look for our country, as it makes us out to be good for nothing people that have no thought for anyone else. Needless to say, the government sees extreme binge drinking as a severely damaging social and cultural aspect to the country, yet, it is well in their power to decrease this growing problem.

     I was on my way back to the city where my University is from my home, and as I can never eat breakfast at 7 in the morning, so the fact that it had gone 9, and I hadn't eaten, I walked into a McDonald's, to get some food. I'm not really fussed on the breakfast menu in McDonald's, so I asked for a Happy Meal, before realising that they don't start serving them until half 10. This then triggered something in my head. I had just walked past a chain pub and restaurant, silently judging those who were already taking a sip of their first pint of the morning. 

     It is a sad day when you realise that some establishments will serve you alcohol at 9 in the morning, but you have to wait until half 10 for a Happy Meal.

     I'd imagine those who are hovering around the bar at 20 to 9 in the morning already have an alcohol problem, but surely offering alcohol that early in the morning can only lead to more people developing these problems. As most people start work at 9 in the morning, I would expect these people wouldn't allow themselves to be a little late for work, just to get in a quick half pint before work. However, imagine if the serving time of alcohol was changed to only half an hour earlier, how many people would we see in the pubs in the morning having a pint instead of a cup of tea and toast?

     As a student, cheap drinks when I am out is all well and good, as for me this term, money hasn't even stretched far enough for me to buy enough food, let alone any "luxuries". Anyway, There is one place that I frequent quite often, and on a particular night, drinks are insanely cheap. I can buy a double of any spirit with a mixer for about £1.60. I have been to other places, usually on a Saturday night, and I've paid more than £6 for the sane drink. Although I think £6 is extortionate, no matter how many times I go to my usual place, I'm still slightly taken aback when paying for my first drink, that it is so cheap.

     For people like myself, I see the nights where drinks are ridiculously cheap as a way of saving money, I'd take 10, maybe 15 pounds out with me when drinks are that cheap, and that money would be for my takeaway and taxi home too. However, others see it as an excuse to spend just as much money as they would if they were paying twice as much for a drink, so that they can get even more drunk.This is the problem with these sorts of deals. I'm not Miss Angel here either, I have been too drunk in the past, but whereas I can count all of those times on my two hands, other people are too drunk every night they go out, and I personally think that the early opening times, late closing times and cheap drinks are at least partially to blame. 

     There is another establishment where I live when I am at University that offer any drinks (single shots) for 99p. Now, where I can't seem to buy a bottle of pop anywhere nowadays for anything less than £1, to buy an alcoholic drink that is cheaper makes little sense to me. Thinking back, I have been in a pub with my family before whist having Sunday dinner. I had a lager with my food, and then had a lemonade afterwards. In the same pub, I only paid 20p less for a lemonade than a lager, and when I came back to the table, my parents said "oh, well you may as well had another drink". In my opinion, soft drinks need to be at least half the amount of the cheapest alcoholic drink, apart from the fact that I know that from one syrup box used to make the drinks, that costs about £5, then can get about 100 cups of drink from, so charging £1 for a soft drink would still give them huge amounts of profit.

     The fact that the government goes on about binge drinking, and that binge drinking is commonly on the news and documented in television shows, in reality, the government isn't all that caring about it. The fact that it is them who allow for establishments to sell such cheap drinks, serve them for 9 in the morning until up to 4 or 5 in the morning in some other places, is just a clever, but malicious way of generating more revenue.