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Drinking, dancing and gambling
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That small but significant oversight may be academic. Completely unthinkable though it would have been a generation ago, Sunday gambling at their six premises in St Helier and one at St Aubin will still no doubt go ahead, to be followed by other companies in due course. It demonstrates, however, the extent to which this kind of commercial trend can involve the sometimes uncomfortable imposition of an essentially alien way of life.
Some will welcome, as a matter of principle, the additional freedom of choice it offers. A dwindling number will have religious objections or, more practically and provably in this secular age, will fear that it can only add the sum of human misery caused by gambling addiction.
Coincidentally, those are the very factors which pertain also to another topical debate about how Island residents and visitors should be able to enjoy their leisure time.
A public consultation on updating the drink licensing laws is soon to be launched but both its promoter, Economic Development Minister Alan Maclean, and his ministerial colleague with responsibility for law and order revealed this week that they have already ruled out any possibility of an extension to the current 2 a.m. closing time imposed on bars and nightclubs.
This stance will clearly disappoint those who have argued that a similar system to the UK’s, where they can stay open until 4, 5 or 6 a.m, would stimulate Jersey’s tourism trade and general night-time economy. It also lays Senator Maclean and Home Affairs Minister Ian Le Marquand the politicians open to a charge of closed-mindedness and has already prompted a campaign by clubbers to persuade them to think again.
That is a fair enough point but probably doomed to failure. Although we might envy the laid-back and civilised late-night atmosphere found in parts of continental Europe, the sad fact is that the culture already adopted and established by this section of Jersey’s hospitality industry is the one found in the UK, where a visit to many a town centre in the early hours should be enough to convince doubters of the wisdom of continued restraint.
Campaigners for extended licensing face a formidably tough task in persuading not only the authorities but also the Jersey public that the outcome would be worth the risk.
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