Shorter Liquor purchasing for Cape Town

Cape Town's drinkers will have less time to buy liquor or spend in pubs next year, the City said on Wednesday.

In terms of a new by-law, from January the new drinking hours for pubs, clubs, restaurants and hotels would be 11am to 2am, instead of the current 10am start, with an option to continue to 4am.

For liquor stores and supermarkets, the liquor trading hours would be 9am to 6pm. Currently the hours were 8am to 8pm.

The councillor who chaired the City's liquor policy task team, Taki Amira, said it had been difficult to please everybody in the drafting of the new by-law.

"With over 3.6 million residents from widely divergent social environments, the City of Cape Town has a responsibility to treat all citizens equally and to help fight the scourge of alcohol abuse," he said.

"The City has tried to strike a balance between the hospitality industry which preferred longer trading hours, and community leaders who insisted on tighter regulations." (from IOL)