All-day drinks plan delayed: The week that was July 11 to 17, 1988

The summer holiday season got under way and then immediately stopped again as widespread industrial action hit the annual exodus to sunnier climes. Airport lounges were turned into temporary campsites as the backlog of holidaymakers awaiting flights continued to build up.

As tempers frayed, there seemed no end in sight to the lines of queues weaving their way around check-in desks as the Civil Aviation Authority remained at loggerheads with various European airlines which were staging wave after wave of strike action.

The Greek air traffic controllers had been the first to walk out, swiftly followed by the French and as the chaos entered its third day there were unconfirmed rumours that the Spanish would be next to go.

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With the UK processing 13,000 flights a day – more than double the number in winter – the timing couldn’t have been worse. In fact the only ones to benefit were returning holidaymakers who got to spend an extra day in the sun while waiting for flights.

A fresh approach to the war on racism in Leeds was urged during this week in 1988. Coun Fabian Hamilton, new chairman of Leeds Council’s equal opportunities sub-committee for ethnic minorities, said that a shift of emphasis was needed to combat widespread racism and ensure that racial groups had a bigger say in council services.

The introduction of all-day drinking in England and Wales to help the tourist industry was to be delayed, announced Home Secretary Douglas Hurd. The plan had been to relax drinking laws by the end of July, but could not be carried out because of the need to provide courts with guidelines on how to deal with objections on the grounds of noise or other nuisance.

In the meantime, licensing magistrates in Bradford were to be called in to use their powers to help police and publicans in combating increased drunken violence in the city centre.

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Supt Jack Action of Bradford Central said: “Magistrates may not be aware of what the city centre is like after dark. We are trying to develop a concerted approach to the matter of dealing with people who come into Bradford to cause trouble.”

It was not all bad news for Bradford, though. The city could now boast two of the best museums in Britain, with the National Museum of Photography, Film and Television and the city’s Colour Museum both taking honours in the National Heritage Awards held at London’s Vintners’ Hall.

The NMPFT was named Museum of the Year and the Colour Museum in Gratton Road was named Best Museum of Industrial or Social History, winning a £1,500 prize. The arrival of the NMPFT had been a big coup for both Bradford and Yorkshire and to mark its fifth birthday this week, a new exhibition of historical Royal photographs going back to the 1840s opened.

The nuclear disaster at Chernobyl in the Ukraine had unexpectedly helped to boost a new industry in North Yorkshire. The area around Chernobyl was a major snail-producing region and exported the delicacy to restaurants in Britain and France. But after the explosion at the plant in 1986, exports had been banned.

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The ban had since been lifted, but snails from anywhere near to Chernobyl still had to carry a radiation certificate, which made them unpopular.

At the same time, the British appetite for snails was growing, and now Selby District Council
was considering an application
to set up a snail farm in North Duffield. A couple from Surrey had sold their home to finance the scheme.

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