I AM not surprised the Government's attempt to implement their so-called 24-hour drinking culture has met with little response from the licensed trade nationwide.

As with any business, the publicans know their customer base and know that generally, to have the money to spend in their pubs the customer also has to go to work, get children to school and carry out the day-to-day activities that make up life.

If he or she is sitting in the pub until the early hours on a regular basis normal life will disintegrate which, sadly, I have witnessed more than once.

We are not a Mediterranean country which is what Tony Blair wants Britain to emulate. In the early Seventies, on the odd occasions, I may have been chatting with a drink until four o'clock in the morning but none of the other patrons in the bar were locals - and that was the case in all the Mediterranean countries I have visited.

I do not know which bars Tony Blair frequents in the Med, but I have noticed in recent years that, apart from the club scene, the bars have started closing earlier and do not stay open until the last customer falls over.

The Government's case for extending drinking hours even more, while claiming "binge drinking" is a symptom of restricted hours, does not hold water. There did not seem to be such a problem when pubs shut at three in the afternoon.

R Waite,

Windmill Rise,

Holgate, York.

Updated: 09:37 Tuesday, March 22, 2005