EARLY CLOSING IN LONDON.

White Ribbon, Volume 20, Issue 236, 18 February 1915, Page 8

EARLY CLOSING IN LONDON.

LIQUOR PAPER’S TESTIMONY. As a war measure, the < losing hour for licensed premises 111 London was made 11 p.m. in lieu of 12.30 a.m. The “Brewer’s Gazette of September 24, 1914, says: “A transformation oi the night scenes of London ha- followed Irom the closing of the public-houses at eleven. Great traffic centres, like the Elephant and Castle, at which iin mensc crowds usually lounge about until one oh loc k in the* morning, have suddenly become peaceful and re-pec-table. The polite, instead of having

to move on numbers of people who have been dislodged from the bars at half-past twelve at night, found very little intoxication to deal with, the last hour and a half being responsible for much of the excess of whi< h complaint i- made. Many of the public-houses were half empty some time before clo.-ing time. journalists, who are necessarily out late, have qui< kl> noticed the effect of the < hanger upon public conduct, and have been spared the sounds of ribald songs, diming, and quarrelling which hitherto have marked ‘closing time’ since the war began.”