LIQUOR AFTER HOURS

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXXI, 11 September 1937, Page 7

LIQUOR AFTER HOURS

LONDON "BOTTLE PARTIES” SCOTLAND YARD CAMPAIGN The most determined effort yet made to suppress London's "bottle party ’ establishments lias been initialed by Scotland Yard police officers. They feel that proprietors of these new-sly 1c night clubs have been dodging the law long enough, and that the time for cautions and minimum lines is past. For nearly five years the "bottle party” system has proved immune from licensing authorities and convictions have been difficult to obtain. Although it was believed that the loophole in the law which permitted alcoholic drinks to be delivered to “guests” at any hour of the night—provided that payment was made at another time had been finally declared effective, the police discovered a means of circumventing it. Public dancing places are only permitted when officially licensed by the London County Council, and for a well-known "bottle party” proprietor to apply for such a licence would be merely to invite a refusal. In each case, nowadays, therefore, when police officers raid Mayfair and Soho "bottle parties,” it is with the specific charge that they do not possess music and dancing licences.