New York State alters booze laws to accommodate Bills’ start time for London game

[Woodman]

The Buffalo Bills (https://www.buffalorumblings.com/) are in London (England, not Ontario) to take on the Jacksonville Jaguars (https://www.bigcatcountry.com/) in an international contest this weekend. It’s an early morning affair, kicking off at 9:30 a.m. Eastern. On Tuesday night, governor Kathy Hochul announced a special extension of liquor laws to accommodate the unusual game time.

[Woodman]

"With the @BuffaloBills playing across the pond on Sunday morning, I know fans will be gathering for the big game & may fancy a pint.
I'm directing the State Liquor Authority to extend the deadline for special permits, so sports bars & restaurants can serve as early as 8am. ❤️ "
Until the announcement, two things wee going to converge into a weird situation for some Bills fans.
Alcohol isn’t normally allowed to be sold in bars and restaurants in New York State (https://sla.ny.gov/location/new-york) until 10 a.m. on Sundays. That’s a good chunk of the first quarter without your first adult beverage. If you’re looking to get a bottle of wine or liquor for home consumption, you’re even more out of luck. Liquor stores can’t open until noon.


New York State alters booze laws to accommodate Bills’ start time for London game - Buffalo Rumblings (https://www.buffalorumblings.com/2023/10/3/23901720/new-york-state-booze-sales-wont-align-with-bills-start-time-for-london-game-alcohol-beer-wine-2023)

[Woodman]

Finally priorities !! :cheers:


:gobills: :gobills: :gobills:

[Historian]

Stupid laws to begin with...

[Albany,n.y.]

Stupid laws to begin with...

Until around 1976 most places were closed on Sundays.

[sahlensguy]

Hells yeah!!

[Historian]

Until around 1976 most places were closed on Sundays.

Even stupider

[OpIv37]

Stupid laws to begin with...

In the 90’s I was a cashier at Wegmans. Even back then, the registers were programmed not to allow beer sales before noon on Sundays. There were numerous times where customers came through my line at like 11:58 and the machine wouldn’t let me ring them up. They’d just have to stand there and wait until the machine turned to 12:00.

Dumb.

[OpIv37]

The alcohol laws in this country are just stupid to begin with.

From where I live, I can be in Pennsylvania in 35 min, Delaware in 45 min, DC or VA in about an hour (if there’s no traffic, but there always is), and WV in a little over an hour. Every state has drastically different alcohol laws and I literally have to research how to buy alcohol in places that are just a short drive away.

Even worse, some laws change by county. We know the people who own the local liquor store. Their store is on the road that divides the city from the county. They’d literally have different laws about things like yours and growlers if they were on the other side of the same street.

It’s just insane.

[MidnightVoice]

The alcohol laws in this country are just stupid to begin with.



They tend to be a tad strange in many countries, including the Britain of my youth. For example, in those days, Wales was dry on a Sunday. But if you were visiting you could join the local Rugby club, and their clubhouse usually had Sunday exemptions. So I am a lapsed member of about 5 or six South Wales Rugby Clubs :D

[OpIv37]

They tend to be a tad strange in many countries, including the Britain of my youth. For example, in those days, Wales was dry on a Sunday. But if you were visiting you could join the local Rugby club, and their clubhouse usually had Sunday exemptions. So I am a lapsed member of about 5 or six South Wales Rugby Clubs :D

I was surprised how early the pubs closed in Ireland and Scotland when we were there about a decade ago. I think many closed around 11, and we were there in July so it was just starting to get dark.

[notacon]

I was surprised how early the pubs closed in Ireland and Scotland when we were there about a decade ago. I think many closed around 11, and we were there in July so it was just starting to get dark.

When I was there in the 70’s, they were still using the extremely restrictive “permitted hours” which were the number of hours a day a pub is allowed to open.

At that time it was 9 hours a weekday (9.5 hours in London) and 5.5 hours on Sundays. On weekdays there must be a break of at least two hours in the afternoon, and no pub could open before 10 AM and must close at 10:30PM (11 PM in London).

The pub I went to every day for lunch closed at 3:00PM until 5:00PM. Then closed for the day at 10:30PM.

That’s why the locals would be there in the afternoon when I went to lunch (usually around 1:00PM, and they would be POUNDING them down before 3:00PM.

They changed those laws in 1988 when the two hour afternoon break from 3:00-5:00PM was abolished. They then allowed pubs to stay open ant time between 11:00AM and 11:00PM. Sunday is still restricted as they can only be open from 12:00PM to 3:00PM...and stay closed until 7:00PM. The mice close at 10:30PM for the day.

This is why they have a plethora of “private clubs” that skirt those laws. Much like in SLC Utah.

Much was changed again with the Licensing Act of 2003 (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Licensing_Act_2003).

So very strange.

[sahlensguy]

Utah has no dry counties. Suck it.

[daryls61]

Don't most bars and restaurants open at 11 anyway? I do remember drinking at a bar though the last time Bills played in London.

[sahlensguy]

Bars still close in WNY at 4:00am? That's just nuts

[notacon]

Utah has no dry counties. Suck it.

They did when I went there in 2006. I was visiting a dealer for the first time and when we went out for lunch he said we’d go to his “club” so we could get a beer. (More him...I hardly ever drink).

Since then I went to SLC many, many times. But, since I don’t drink I did not even pay attention to when they stopped being “dry”.

[sahlensguy]

They did when I went there in 2006. I was visiting a dealer for the first time and when we went out for lunch he said we’d go to his “club” so we could get a beer. (More him...I hardly ever drink).

Since then I went to SLC many, many times. But, since I don’t drink I did not even pay attention to when they stopped being “dry”.

Every institution that served liquor were clubs back then. Needed to be a member or sponsored by one to enter. Those have all gone away now. Really had nothing to do with being dry

[kscdogbillsfan1221]

I lived in Nashville for 4 years which is a central time zone

I’d go to the bills bar at around 1130 am on Sunday and order a bottle of Sam Adams octoberfest
I was then told I couldn’t order a beer until noon, but I could have liquor

so I’m like ‘so I can have a crown and coke now but not a beer until noon’
’yup’

sigh

[Woodman]

Utah has no dry counties. Suck it.

:rofl: :cheers:

[OpIv37]

Utah has no dry counties. Suck it.

I was in Colorado maybe 10 years ago. They had the strangest laws. Supermarkets could sell beer, but only if the ABV was 3% or less. Liquor stores sold regular beer like any other state.

I don’t get the point. It’s just gonna make people drink twice as many beers to get drunk.

[sahlensguy]

Utah is similar. Then again, 100% of Utah's liquor commission is made up of Mormons. Liquor stores here are all state owned and all beer sold there are sold single and warm. They tax each can. The ABV of Supermarket beer just went up from 3.2%. Not sure of all the laws now as they are all lessoning.

[Woodman]

19876