SUNDAYS are a slow days for pubs. Only a handful stay open into the evening and some do not open.

Blind O’Reilly’s recently stopped opening on a Sunday because of the lack of drinkers. But it will do so again with the start of the new FA Premiership season.

‘We just stopped last Sunday,’ said bar maid Grace O’Donnell.

‘We did do Sunday lunches and there were a few stragglers from Saturday night in for a few pints, but nothing very busy. Most people that came in were coming for food but there weren’t many.’

Couture Inn manager Ken Leaver said his pub still opened on Sundays but was considering closing.

‘It’s usually very quiet on a Sunday. We’ll give it a year and see. We’re a managed house so it’s up to the office.

‘If we had staff in on Sundays, we’d lose money. I man the bar every other week and we get a barman in the other weeks.’

Those Sundays when sports are televised live bring in a lot of customers and some stay open longer on those occasions to soak up the trade.

‘In the winter when the football is on, then we stay open because it brings in the crowds, but not in the summer,’ said Victoria Arms manageress Carrie Self.

‘Who wants to sit in a pub on a lovely hot day in the summer? Sundays are very quiet for us. We do only 12 to 6 because a lot of our customers have to work on Monday morning and so they don’t want to drink until 12 at night. We did try at first, opening for a couple of weeks until 11. People only have so much money to spend: with seven-day opening, one day is going to suffer.’

Some pubs find Sundays to be just as popular as weekdays.

‘We are very busy on a Sunday, specially when we have live sports showing,’ said Bankers Draught licensee Suzanne Pontin.

‘We close at six on a Sunday because we feel by then when people have been drinking all day they have had enough and it’s good to be able to give the staff a night off.

‘On a special occasion like Euro 2004 we will stay open longer, but generally we think by six people have had enough.

‘During the week we only use the new licensing laws on a Friday and Saturday. On Monday to Thursday, we stay open until 11.45.

‘On the whole, the new licensing laws have been very successful.’