Extended late-night opening hours for bars and pubs can significantly increase alcohol-related ambulance call outs as well as levels of reported crime, says a report from the University of Glasgow in partnership with the universities of Stirling and Sheffield.
There were also ‘no meaningful economic benefits’ from longer opening hours, it adds, meaning they were ‘unlikely to revitalise the night time economy’.
The study, which is the first of its kind in the UK, looked at the impact of extended opening in bars and pubs across Glasgow and Aberdeen. Longer and more widespread licensing extensions in Aberdeen led to an 11 per cent increase in ambulance call outs along with an 8 per cent increase in reported crime, while in Glasgow – where far fewer venues had extended opening, and those that did had more regulated extensions – there was no comparable increase in either call outs or crime. Almost 40 Aberdeen venues were granted late-night extensions of up to three hours, while Glasgow saw just ten venues granted a one-hour extension. These were nightclubs that had ‘already implemented specific safety measures’ the researchers point out.
Scotland saw more than 31,000 alcohol-specific hospital admissions in 2022-23, with alcohol estimated to be involved in more than 15 per cent of all ambulance call outs. Last year a Public Health Scotland report projected that the number of Scots living with chronic liver disease would increase by more than 50 per cent by 2044 – an additional 23,100 people.
Meanwhile, a new report from the Health Foundation think tank states that average healthy life expectancy in the UK – defined as the number of years someone can expect to live in good health – fell by two years in the decade to 2022-24, to just over 60 for both men and women. The vast majority of areas saw a decline over the decade, with a 20-year gap opening up between the most and least deprived areas.
‘Of 21 high-income countries, the UK is one of only five that saw healthy life expectancy fall between 2011 and 2021, and had the second steepest decline,’ the document states. ‘As a result, the UK has fallen from 14th to 20th out of these countries – only the United States now has a lower healthy life expectancy.’ The economic and human costs were ‘huge’, said Alcohol Focus Scotland, with high levels of alcohol-related illness and death forming ‘part of the picture’.
The findings reinforced the ‘growing evidence’ about declining health in the UK, the report continues, with successive governments failing to take the long-term action needed to address it. Cross-government action was needed on the wider factors that shape people’s health, it adds, with a ‘shift to prevention and a new strategy to address economic and health inequalities.’
Impact of later trading hours for bars and clubs on alcohol-related ambulance call-outs and crimes in Scotland is published in the journal BMJ Public Health and available here
Healthy life expectancy trends in the UK: a watershed moment available here