I'd want to be sat in a pub at 10pm because a) I like sitting in pubs with friends, b) I often don't get home until 7pm or later (so a 9pm watershed makes it such a short session that it's not worth it), c) a lot of my friends have babies and toddlers, and... d) why shouldn't we be able to go into a pub for a bit of socialising if we want to?

I reckon it's good for kids to get used to seeing other people and to learn how to behave in such a setting. We don't always want to eat out - sometimes it's nice just to go for a drink.

I'm not saying that all pubs have to be family oriented.

Why not make it standard practice for pubs licences to allow kids in after 9pm and let a) each pub decide what sort of market they want to try to attract (i.e. some could specialise in the 'adult' market and some in the 'family' market, and b) let parents decide which pubs to take kids into (or not, if they don't want to)?

I think it would be good for society as a whole to discourage excessive drinking and encourage a more 'continental', sensible, family oriented style of socialising/eating/drinking out.

I also think we should scrap VAT on food and drink sold in restaurants. I think I'm right in saying that we don't have VAT on food sold in supermarkets, so why have it on restaurant food? Scrapping the VAT would encourage more people to go our eating and drinking, rather than just drinking, as a setting for socialising.