MANY pub landlords would like to be given the opportunity to open and serve alcohol at their own discretion during the World Cup.

Last week saw most people in favour of an early full bar service, but Blackburn Magistrates chose to follow the case law set in 1978 which determined that pubs would not be given extended licences, even though Chief Executive of the Justices' Clerks' Society, Sid Brighton, said that times had moved on and a more liberal attitude could be taken.

Most licensees felt that if they couldn't open and serve drinks then they would be doing their customers a disservice.

Derek Haworth Chairman of Blackburn Licensed Victuallers Association cannot see why he will not be given the opportunity to open.

He says that Blackburn will miss out on being part of a national sport because of the legal system's old fashioned views.

He said: "The whole thing is an absolute farce. It is beyond me how one pub can be granted a licence and another in a different part of the country can't.

"It is not about making extortionate profits for landlords because, to be quite frank, pubs would not benefit that much from opening.

"It is the principle of the thing and it is the fact that we can't serve the public."

Mr Haworth thinks the World Cup is one of the biggest national events to be shown in this country and is angry that the magistrates do not take this into consideration.

He continued: "To say that the World Cup does not constitute a special occasion is ludicrous.

"I don't want to sound disrespectful but to many people the World Cup is more important than the Queen's Jubilee.

"Instead of giving people things they don't want it would be nice for a change to be able to give something back to the community and give them something they want.

Police raised the issue of possible extra problems with drunkenness on the streets even though they admitted that it would be unlikely they would be inundated with complaints of drunkenness so early in the morning.

And Mr Haworth said: "I can't see there will be a problem with drunkenness because not that many people, if any, will want a drink at that time of day.

"Every country in the world will be allowing the celebrations to happen in pubs - but, oh no, people in Blackburn will have to sit in their homes because the magistrates don't want us to have any fun.

"Pubs should be able to open for a couple of hours in the morning and then when the games have finished they should close and then re-open in the afternoon.

"This way people have the chance to watch the games without us having to stay open all day long," he added.

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