Are shops with 24-hour alcohol licences at an all-time high?

Those enjoying a late night tipple have had a difficult few months after police chiefs claimed that 24-hour drinking laws had failed back in September. Today the Daily Mail voiced "fresh worries about the impact of Labour's licensing reforms" when it pointed to new statistics showing that the number of shops with permission to sell alcoholic drinks around the clock has hit an all-time high.

These statistics were published by the Home Office yesterday, and show that 2,082 supermarkets and shops held 24-hour licenses, which was indeed more than in any previous year since the statistics were first published in 2007/08.

The data also revealed that supermarkets and shops were accounting for an increasing proportion of 24-hour premises. In March this year, 28% of all premises with permission to sell alcohol at all hours fell into this category, compared to 20% in 2007/08.  However this proportional increase is largely accounted for by the fall in the number of hotel bars with 24-hour licenses: whereas in 2007/08 61% of all 24-hour premises were hotel-owned (3,900 bars in total), in 2013 they accounted for just 45% (3,295). The proportion accounted for by pubs and nightclubs has changed little over the period, fluctuating between 10% and 13%.

(Source: Home Office)

Whether or not these figures are evidence that the 2003 Licensing Act (which introduced 24-hour drinking, and came into force in 2005) was a "mistake" depends upon the context in which we look at these figures.

The Office for National Statistics reports that alcohol consumption has actually fallen since 2005, as has the proportion drinking to excess. Whereas in 2005 72% of men and 57% of women reported drinking alcohol in the previous week, in 2011 66% of men and 54% of women did likewise. The proportion of men drinking over 8 units in at least one day over the previous week fell from 23% to 18% over the same period, while the proportion of women drinking 6 units or more in a single 24-hour period fell from 15% to 12%.

However the Mail points out that the increase in shops and supermarkets holding 24-hour alcohol licenses might result in the bypassing of "social or legal regulation that restrains yobbish behaviour in pubs and bars."

Certainly there is evidence that more and more people are choosing to consume alcohol in the home rather than in pubs. While official data suggests the amount of alcohol drunk in pubs, bars and clubs has almost halved over the past decade, the amount drunk at home has remained stable over the same timeframe, and has actually increased over the past 20 years.

However it is less clear from this data that the changes to drinking laws that were introduced in 2005 are driving this trend. While of course we don't know how these trends would have evolved without the introduction of 24-hour licensing, both the decline of pub drinking and the rise of home drinking seem to have their origins much farther back than 2005.