Hamish Champ: Oh dear, the Daily Mail is on the warpath again

It was heartening to see the Daily Mail​ foaming at the mouth like a rabid shih-tzu over the number of alcohol licences granted in the past year.

The paper condemned again - yawn - what it called 'round-the-clock drinking', which was introduced in 2005 "in the face of an overwhelming opposition from doctors, the police, judges, and a Daily Mail​ campaign".

According to the paper the proliferation of late-opening restaurant and bars is the reason why this country's going to the dogs and why so many 'traditional pubs' are going to the wall.

Never mind that only a handful of pubs and bars operate a full 24-hour trading day. That doesn't suffice for the boys and girls in Derry Street.

The loss of what it calls 'traditional pubs' appears to be a cornerstone in the Mail​'s argument concerning 'Binge Britain', but Publican​ readers will doubtless recall that for several months after the licensing regime was altered by the Labour government the Mail​'s campaign ran under the banner 'Say No To 24 Hour Pubs'. Didn't seem so keen on the on-trade then, did it?

I can't help but wonder exactly what the paper has got against today's pubs. True, it laments the loss of what it regards as the good old-fashioned boozer, where old men would sit huddled round a table drinking pints of mild and where the women would be at home, minding the children and making the tea. It was a time when you could give a child a wallop round the back of the head for playing 'Knockdown Ginger' without the fear of being hauled before social services and labelled a child abuser.

Every generation thinks at some point that the past was better than the present. "It wasn't like this in our day!" is a refrain we've all heard. But the halcyon days after which the Mail​ hankers didn't really exist. Recall some of the key events of the last century: World War One. The Depression. World War Two. Good old days? I think not.

But I digress. There is no escaping the fact that the availability of alcohol has never been higher. The figures released last week confirm this and point to more off-sales than ever. This fact, many suggest, is the reason for the demise of the pub.

But I was in a number of such outlets last week - in both professional and personal capacities - and they were doing very good business. Why? Because as far as I could tell the licensee and his or her team were bending over backwards to offer the customer what they wanted: a great environment, great beer, good food - if they happened to sell the stuff - and friendly staff. I wish the sort of pubs one finds today existed when I was in my late teens.

In many cases pubs are far, far better now because those operators who 'get it', who understand that it's not just about opening the doors and waiting for people to flock in, are making a heck of a difference to the customer's experience. Is the pub trade an example of Darwinian Theory? Perhaps.

At the end of the day we can all buy cheap booze in a supermarket, and from time to time we all do. But hauling a few slabs of cheap lager from the car boot into the house is nowhere near as enjoyable an experience as sitting with a bunch of mates in a great pub for a few hours. Even if one is paying through the nose for one's pint…