Booze for breakfast legal again in Cape Town

In the new year we will not only be allowed to imbibe sparkling wine or champagne at breakfast events – the city has now relented to allow us to be served with the full alcohol menu in the morning again (and even a touch of brandy to cheer up the old folk).

That’s the latest proposed change to the hoary old (new) liquor by-law.

The new Control of Undertakings that sell Liquor by-law will go before the council next week to adopt and should be ready for implementation in February, the city said.

The controversial Liquor Trading Hours by-law was first mooted and passed in 2010 which brought sweeping changes to bar hours and when booze could be sold – including banning champagne breakfasts. The by-law came under heavy fire and the city had to backtrack on several clauses.

Last year the city relented and made a change to allow sparkling wine to be served at champagne breakfasts between 8am and 11am.

At the meeting recently of the city’s economic, environmental and spatial planning committee, officials raised concerns that the section which allowed for “sparkling wine” to be served for on-premises consumption between 8am and 11am could be unconstitutional for excluding traditional gatherings where other drinks were traditionally served. This, they said, could open the city up to legal challenges. All other on-consumption premises are allowed to start serving liquor only from 11am.

Yesterday the Mayco agreed on the new by-law, also agreeing that the term “sparkling wine” be changed to “liquor” to accommodate the possibility of other types of liquor being served at breakfast events. The council will vote next week on the by-law, which also allows for off-consumption premises (bottle stores) to apply for an extension of their weekly trading hours until 8pm.

In terms of the current by-law, liquor stores are only allowed to trade until 6pm, with no Sunday trading.


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