I never even considered drinking alcohol on the London Tube – if asked I would probably have thought it was illegal, I still remember being told that smoking was banned throughout the system when lighting a cigarette in the open air at Turnham Green about 25 years ago.
And, even if I knew it was allowed, the Tube functions as a convenient rest between pints – when in London I focus on cask ale.
Well, even if I have behaved decently, others have been more naughty. and one of the campaign promises made by Boris Johnson in the recent election campaign was to ban drinking on public transport.
Well, he won, and the ban will be effective from 1 June.
A group called Last orders on the Underground (you have to be British to think up concepts like this) will be organizing a final session on the Circle Line on Saturday.
After that it’s brown paper bags, I assume.
Thanks to the Going Underground’s blog for the info.
I’ll bet that train will have some terrifying people on it. And not much real ale.
I don’t think smoking was banned on all parts of the Tube until about 20 years ago, in the aftermath of the 1987 King’s Cross fire. You could still smoke on the trains until 1984, I believe.
You’re probably right on all points.
Yes, I remember smoking on the trains. Wooden floors, no ashtrays.
It will be full of Aussies, with a smattering of Kiwis and Saffers, naturally.
[...] you may have picked up from other blogs (including Impy Malting and Knut Albert), there was a party last night to mark the drinking ban on London [...]
It did not seem to go to well:
http://uk.news.yahoo.com/pressass/20080601/tuk-17-held-after-tube-party-turns-sour-6323e80.html