AFTER almost a century, publicans are preparing to call time on that enduring relic of the First World War: the 11pm closing bell.

However, a quirk in the way that the Licensing Act will be implemented means that drinkers desperate for another tipple will not have to wait for long.

The change in the law comes into force at midnight on Thursday, 40 minutes after pubs have thrown out customers and shut their doors under the old laws.

This curious anomaly has left police forces across Britain scratching their heads over whether to permit pubs to continue serving through the last hour, or rigidly to enforce the rules.

A spokeswoman from Scotland Yard said: “I didn’t realise that — it’s stupid. Life’s never simple, is it? We are duty-bound to enforce the no-drinking rule but it just seems craziness.”

The main beneficiary of the hour-long interregnum will be the fast-food industry, which is expected to do a roaring trade for those drinkers who are turfed out for 40 minutes on Wednesday evening.

Meanwhile, another seemingly immutable fixture of British life, the closing-time curry, is expected to suffer from the fact that people can continue to drink later into the night.

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