Drinking and Dancing

Drinking and Dancing
It seems that each era has its problems with alcohol and uses different ways of dealing with it. In the Thirties we did not have breathalysers so the police would ask the suspect to walk a chalk line. It was an offence to be drunk in a public place so if a drunk was in a front garden the police had to persuade him to is come out to the pavement. They could then take him to the station, and make him walk a straight line. If he could not do so he was charged with drunkenness and spent the night in the cells at the police station. The next morning he would appear at a magistrates court and be given a small fine. There was a newspaper, called The Evening News, and every day it had an article, written by the court reporter, who would give a humorous account of odd characters who turned up in court because of drunkenness.

Ordinary shops were not allowed to sell alcohol. There were specialist shops called off-licences and the licensing authorities did not allow them to be too close to each other.

A premises had to apply for a licence in order to have dancing in it. Presumably the authorities considered that dancing would encourage people to drink or misbehave, but I personally did not hear or read about alcohol problems at a dance in those days. Even in 1950 the local Council could forbid a public dance being held on a Sunday. In 1945 I took lessons at a ballroom dancing school and we were allowed to have a dance on Sunday because it was a practice session.

Sunday must have been a very boring day for adults in my part of London, because all the shops were closed, the cinemas were closed and there was no public dancing. Pubs could open, but had to shut at 10pm instead of 10.30. I have been told that in some parts of Wales alcohol could not be sold at all, except to a traveller. A large number of Welsh people decided to travel on a Sunday.