[OSM-talk] pub vs café

[paul youlten]

Dermot said:
> "This situation used to be very common in Birmingham on the "Balti
> Mile". There, Indian restaurants offering affordable (and tasty) food
> traditionally did not have licences. "

I always assumed that this was because most Balti Houses/Indian
Restaurants are run by Bangladeshi Muslims who don't sell alcoholic on
religious grounds.

PY

On Sat, Oct 18, 2008 at 2:49 PM, Dermot McNally <dermotm at gmail.com> wrote:
> 2008/10/18 Frederik Ramm <frederik at remote.org>:
>
>> Are there still proper restaurants in the UK without a license? Can you
>> then bring your own alcoholic beverages and have them served? I read
>> something about a "corking fee" related to this, but this may well have
>> been from 20 years ago.
>
> This situation used to be very common in Birmingham on the "Balti
> Mile". There, Indian restaurants offering affordable (and tasty) food
> traditionally did not have licences. Off-Licences (shops licensed to
> sell alcohol for consumption "Off" the premises) began to spring up
> next door to the restaurants, and members of the public would bring
> their own beer and wine into the restaurant. A corking fee is exactly
> what you describe, a surcharge on self-brought (usually) wine, but
> whether one will apply is very much down to the restaurant itself.
> Corking fees are not confined to unlicensed restaurants either - it
> could happen that a customer would choose to bring a very special
> bottle of wine he owns to enjoy with a meal.
>
> A lot of the Birmingham restaurants I mentioned do now have licences,
> but self-brought booze was still common enough last time I was there.
>
> Dermot
>
> --
> --------------------------------------
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>