Lighter options for the pub trade
The Government is set to suggest that we make summer evenings lighter. By moving the country to Double Summer Time, we shovel an hour's light from the start of the day to the end of the day.
So from March onwards, the light extends a further hour into the evening and by the summer solstice daylight would last until around 11pm.
The plan would be a real boost to the pub sector on the basis that light is a stimulus to sociability — customers are more likely to come out to the pub and stay longer. If the change could be implemented for March next year, the timing would be perfect.
There are around 320,000 foreign visitors expected to attend the Olympics next year, with many likely to visit other parts of the UK as part of an extended stay.
The pub trade in the south-east and elsewhere already stands to benefit enormously — London bar operator Novus believes the Olympics can be "another Christmas" and has targeted an extra £20m worth of sales over a six-week period, translating to around a £7.5m profit boost. An hour's worth of extra evening light can only be a positive in ensuring our visitors go home having had the best possible time.
The UK has tried this experiment, or variations of it, twice before with positive results. During World War Two, the UK was two hours ahead of Greenwich Mean Time (GMT), operating on British Double Summer Time. And between October 1968 and October 1971, the UK remained on GMT plus one hour throughout the year.
The main objection to British Double Summer Time revolves around the increased risk to children travelling to school in the dark. But analysis of accident data for the first two years of the trial showed an increase in casualties in the morning, when there was less light, but a much sharper drop in casualties in the evening, when there was more light.
There were actually around 2,700 fewer people killed or seriously injured on the roads during a period when around 1,000 a day were killed or seriously injured (the figure may have been a little skewed because the period coincided within the introduction of drink-drive legislation).
Sadly, the experiment was ended when, on a free vote, the House of Commons voted 366 to 81 against. But good ideas have a habit of reappearing.
Personally, I support the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents' plan, which proposes a Single/Double Summer Time strategy — putting the UK one hour ahead of GMT during the winter and two hours during the summer. How nice to have an hour's daylight after work, even at this time of year.
The main obstacle to Double Summer Time is the Scottish Government, which seems implacably opposed — early-rising Scottish farmers don't like darker mornings. Seems a shame to put the interests of Hebridean sheep farmers ahead of the rest of us.
