Lloyd's of London outrages staff with daytime boozing ban

Staff at one of Britain’s oldest financial institutions are reportedly outraged after being told they cannot drink alcohol during office hours.

Lloyd’s of London has told staff that an alcohol ban is in place between 9am and 5pm and anyone caught boozing during that time could face the sack for gross misconduct.

The renowned insurance firm, which was initially founded in 1688, has reportedly acknowledged that the City of London has ‘historically had a reputation for daytime drinking’, but now believes that the alcohol is off the lunch menu.

The Evening Standard now reports that staff shared their anger at the rule on an online forum.

One employee claimed that it had made Lloyds the ‘PC capital of the world’, while another joked: ‘will we be asked to go to bed earlier soon?’

An internal memo seen by the paper reportedly said the policy was aimed to align the firm with its competitors.

‘The London market historically had a reputation for daytime drinking but that has been changing and Lloyd’s has a duty to be a responsible employer, and provide a healthy working environment’, the memo reportedly states.

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But while staff have reacted with anger, a YouGov survey from last year found that 60 percent of people considered an alcoholic beverage at lunchtime to be unacceptable – even with a meal.

It also claimed that men are much more likely to consider a lunchtime tipple to be acceptable than women, with four in ten men saying it was OK, in contrast to a quarter of women.