The dawn of a continental-style drinking culture or a lurch into around-the-clock booze-fuelled debauchery? England and Wales should learn the answer as from yesterday when they abolish the 11 p.m. (2300 GMT) closing time observed by most pubs since World War One. Proponents of new laws that will allow pubs to serve alcohol later, in some cases up to 24-hours a day, say they will usher in more civilized drinking habits like those of France or Spain. The race against the 11 p.m. closing bell encourages Britons to binge-drink while the eviction of boozers en masse spurs the violence and vandalism that plague town centers, they say.

“At last adults in this country are going to be treated like grown-ups and given a little bit of choice about having a social life beyond 11 o’clock,” said Mark Hastings, spokesman for the British Beer and Pub Association. But opponents argue longer opening hours will only increase the puddles of vomit on street corners, the queues at hospital emergency wards or the weekend overcrowding of police cells. Britain’s binge-drinking habits – notorious from Spain’s Costa del Sol to the Greek Islands – are so ingrained that more access to alcohol will simply mean more drunks, critics argue.

The relaxed laws also apply to supermarkets in England and Wales. Scotland already has later opening hours. With the lifting of the 90-year-old curfew, about 75 percent of pubs in England and Wales will be able to stay open beyond 11 p.m., according to the British Beer and Pub Association. About 1,000 licenses have been allowed to open around the clock – of which just over one third are for supermarkets, according to the Department of Culture, Media and Sport.

But the department says very few premises are expected to open all night, and the overwhelming majority of pubs will shut either at the same time as before or an hour or two later. New police powers to crackdown on booze-fuelled violence and close troublesome premises go hand-in-hand with the new hours. The government has forecast a rise in alcohol-associated crime figures because of the police crackdown – a prediction seized upon by the opposition Conservative Party.

“No matter how many panicked initiatives they announce, it will be the police and the public who will have to deal with the consequences of the government’s mistakes,” said Theresa May, Conservative spokeswoman on culture, media and sport. With Christmas festivities about to start, it will take time to gauge the impact of the new licensing laws.

But alcohol experts say binge drinking and drinking to get drunk have been integral parts of British and Northern European culture since the mead-swilling Vikings, and those habits will take time to reverse.