Maybe, Richard. But it's balanced out by the latest madness from the Politbureau; they want to ban smoking in ALL cars, company AND Private. And not only do they want to raise the drinking age to 21, but they plan to make it illegal for ANYONE to buy more than FOUR drinks in any one pub in the same night. Not only that, but you won't be able to work in a pub-either behind the bar, or collecting glasses-unless you go on an officially approved course and have a diploma to prove it.
You know all those conversations we have about home brew? Expect it to take off big style in the immediate future.
On a side note, since the smoking ban came in I've never seen ANY of the local pubs (Stirling is a small-sized city) more than half-full on a Saturday night. So where are all the non-entities who carped on about finally being able to go to the pub?