Once upon a time Australia was famous for the six o'clock swill - the rush by drinkers to drink as much as they could before the pub closed at 6pm.

Then we got 10pm closing!

And sometime in the late 70's PUBS COULD OPEN ON SUNDAYS!!! So western suburbs kids didn't have to travel out to Colyton hotel - 45km from the CBD the first pub outside the Sydney Metropolitan limits where "genuine travellers" could have a drink. Of course it was only 20km from where I grew up, so we we went there we hadn't travelled very far, so we naturally gave false addresses. Nor-one really cared in those days. Of course, when Random Breath Testing came in (late 70s??) that change a lot, but that's a different story.

In the mid 70's I moved into the inner city, into Sydney's entertainment centre, where everyone comes for a good night out. As the folk clubs are not here, I go elsewhere.

Today we have a lot of discussion about our drinking hours as the drinking culture here follows the British binge drinking model rather than the cultured European model. Attempts are being made to change the culture - dunno how effective that is, but legislation is allowing smaller bars to be established.

We have 24 hour drinking in some places, & normal closing times from 10pm, midnight to the early hours of the morning depending on the premises & area.

Apart from our small suburban pubs we also have many "beer barns" = huge establishments where many patrons idea seems to be get blind rotten fighting drunk, and a smattering of small intimate bars where the aim is to create a quiet friendly environment for drinks after work.

The Coogee Bay Hotel is one of these large hotels which feature of lists of places where anti-social behaviour happens - scroll down to Liquor Amendment Regulation 2008 & Eastern Beaches Liquor Accord for info.

sandra