Shouldn't come as a surprise. I reported a couple of Christmases ago that me and a mate from Australia stayed at the Victory club about 3 years ago just before Christmas, to go on the piss. We ended up in some part of centralish London that was bereft of pubs. Even worse having had several skinfulls we wanted a decent nosh with a bottle of red. Nocando, effendi, was the response from about 7 restaurants we tried. It was noticeable that other customers in several of the restaurants we went to were sipping furtively out of brown paper bags. In the end we grabbed a fast black and told the driver to take us to civilisation where we could get a bloody drink. By this time we were dangerously close to becoming sober. There are whole parts of London now where some bearded **** of a Musselman with a daft hat and a beard has decided that thou shalt not drink, and **** the laws of the land.
And we just let it happen.