Saturday, January 16, 2010

Licence to kill?

A very slightly dodgy general store has a new and prominent sign in its window: WE NOW SELL CIGARETTES.

This startled me; I looked for the rubric above the door: Licensed to sell tobacco. There was none. So out of curiosity I glanced up at the doorway as I passed a newsagent chain: no sign there either.

Can I really be imagining that such licences were necessary during my childhood? I have had no luck so far trying to get the information off the web.