This year New Year’s Eve falls on a Saturday, and under Cayman law Saturday evening alcohol sales must stop as soon as the clock strikes midnight. <\/P><\/p>\n
The Cayman authorities have insisted that no exceptions will be made. <\/P><\/p>\n
To make matters worse, the Caribbean territory’s ban on loud music on Sundays will also remain in place. <\/P><\/p>\n
Democratic right<\/B><\/P><\/p>\n
Harry Lalli, owner of the Next Level nightclub on Grand Cayman, said the restrictions could drive away tourists.<\/P><\/p>\n
“You’ve got a lot of people coming down to the island, staying in the hotels, coming to a nice place to celebrate New Year’s Eve, and now all of a sudden they’re not going to be able to,” he told the AP news agency. <\/P><\/p>\n
Another nightclub owner, Don Seymour, said it could damage the Cayman Islands’ reputation. <\/P><\/p>\n
“I think we probably are the only place in the world that is not celebrating New Year’s Eve – among democratic societies, that is,” he said. <\/P><\/p>\n
Fine or jail<\/B><\/P><\/p>\n
The long-standing laws are designed by the government of the conservative British overseas territory to encourage people to go to church on Sunday. <\/P><\/p>\n
Bar owners that violate the bans could lose their alcohol licences, be fined $500 (\uffa3288) or even be sentenced to a month in jail. <\/P><\/p>\n
Pastor Al Ebanks, the chairman of the Cayman Ministers’ Association, said the restrictions should not stop people from having a good time. <\/P><\/p>\n
“Whether they choose to stay up all night or part of the night, they still have the freedom to do so,” he said. <\/P><\/p>\n
The Cayman Islands are best known for their financial services industry.<\/P><\/p>\n
Story from BBC NEWS:
\nhttp:\/\/news.bbc.co.uk\/go\/pr\/fr\/-\/2\/hi\/business\/4428376.stm<\/SMALL><\/P><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Bar and nightclub owners in the Cayman Islands are up in arms over their government’s refusal to grant them licence extensions on New Year’s Eve.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":{"facebook_10223285771444175_51037792744":""},"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-248154","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-headlines"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/248154","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=248154"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/248154\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=248154"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=248154"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=248154"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}