Letter: Ban pub grub, it is spoiling serious drinking

Sir: Having been in the hotel, catering and licensed trade since I was 19, I find Robert Botkai's comments (letter, 16 August) quite natural coming from someone who has probably never run a pub. As a licensee, Sundays are a godsend, when at 3.30pm, I can put my feet up, knowing that I don't have to rush down within a couple of hours to open again. We licensees deserve a break, too. The trouble is, people think we are at their beck and call, and that we just open the doors at 11am, having just got up. To prepare a roast dinner for scores of people, my chef was preparing meat at 8am, sometimes earlier, my own day having begun an hour or so before. So closing at 3pm is giving us a rest.