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Last call for happy hour (and supersize wine glasses) in admission ......
Happy hours and 'supersize' wine glasses could be banned in an admission that the 24-hour drinking experiment is failing.
Labour's hopes of creating a Continental-style cafe culture have not materialised since licensing laws were relaxed nearly three years ago.
Instead, booze-fuelled violence and alcohol-related deaths, injuries and illnesses have surged.
Now, having previously refused to heed warnings from police and doctors, ministers are preparing a climbdown by toughening up the laws on alcohol sales.
• Loss-leading alcohol sales by supermarkets may also be targeted.
The moves will build on a review by the audit firm KPMG into the link between price promotions and alcohol abuse, which could be published this week.
Ministers have been dismayed at the lack of voluntary action from the drinks industry.
Some pubs have extended happy hours to last all evening, a study by Alcohol Concern found.
One offered customers as much booze as they could down for £15.
Wine glass sizes now range from 125ml to 175ml or even 250ml, a third of a bottle.
It means a woman can drink more than the recommended daily limit in one go.
Many pubs and clubs are also said to have increased spirit measures from 25ml to 35ml and to offer doubles as standard.
Drinks promotions and happy hours have been regulated by individual pub companies since 2005.
But ministers believe there has been widespread abuse of a voluntary code.
Don Shenker, chief executive of Alcohol Concern, said: 'The industry's claim to champion responsible retailing is badly let down by the significant number of premises which persistently sell alcohol at cut prices.
Professor Ian Gilmore, president of the Royal College of Physicians and chairman of the Alcohol Heath Alliance, said: 'Too many bars and clubs put profit before their customers' health.
The British Beer and Pub Association said new legislation should cover all alcohol retailers.
Shadow Home Secretary Dominic Grieve said: 'This is yet more evidence of the Government scrabbling around with piecemeal solutions to problems that they have spent ten years creating.
'When legislation for 24-hour drinking was going through we warned the Government to pilot it, analyse the consequences and then apply it appropriately at local discretion.
There is clear evidence that problems associated with drink have exploded since licensing laws were relaxed in November 2005.
The number of alcohol-related hospital admissions has shot up by more than a quarter to 162,000 last year.
Alcohol-related deaths rose from a rate of 12.9 per 1,000 population in 2005 to 13.4 the following year.
There has also been a 25 per cent surge in serious violent crime between 3am and 6am.
The KPMG report, commissioned by the Home Office, found that regulations governing the alcohol industry were 'not fit for practice' and should be scrapped.
It said the industry's Social Responsibility Standards were being flouted to allow 'irresponsible and harmful practices' such as selling alcohol to under-18s and those already 'blatantly intoxicated'.
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