Drinkers unimpressed by new measures

It is two minutes until the end of happy hour and Tom Williams approaches the bar to buy three bottles of wine.

"It's sensible economics," said Tom, 26, an accountant from Greenwich. "When you're on a big night out you want to spend as little as possible."

He said scrapping happy hours would do nothing to stop binge drinking, adding: "The happy hours are not the problem, it is the culture in this country of celebrating a new job, a birthday, or even just the start of the weekend by getting hammered."

At Tiger, Tiger bar in Haymarket, which is proud to offer a 5-7pm "happy hour" seven days a week, drinkers were equally unimpressed with the new measures.

Charlotte Swarbreck, 21, who works for an acting agency, sipped a half-price cocktail and said: "I do not pay attention to happy hours and I don't think scrapping them will make any difference. If people want to go out and get drunk, they will do it anyway."