Fancy a quick one? You've got 36 hours to get them in

Picture the scene: it's New Year's Eve at the Famous Three Kings in West Kensington, London. Christina Aguilera screeches from the jukebox and the queue outside has wrapped itself round the block.

As his bar staff survey the crowds inside and as the bottles of Smirnoff Ice fly off the shelves, the pub's landlord, Richard Marshall-Duffield, looks at his watch and contemplates the 24 hours of drinking still to come.

Drinking in Britain will never be the same again – and New Year's Eve, with its mammoth 36-hour drinking session beginning on Tuesday, will give us all a taste of the future.

If the Government gets its way, within a year all-night pubs will cease to be a novelty. The new Licensing Bill will have banished all memory of frenzied dashes for the bar before the last orders bell, ushering in a more laid-back, continental-style early hours drinking culture. Yet as ministers fine-tune one of their most populist measures to date, opposition to the change is mounting.

On one side is the "not-in-my-backyard" contingent which fears that extension of opening times into the small hours will lead to rising crime and noise pollution. They are joined by a growing number of landlords who argue that plans to give local authorities the power to decide whether late licences are approved will lead to more red tape, rising costs and higher beer prices.

In the midst of all this is a Bill that appears to be pleasing no one. Perhaps surprisingly, one of its main opponents is Shepherd Neame, Britain's oldest brewery and the owner of some 360 pubs. It believes the decision to transfer licence-issuing powers from magistrates to councils will mean that, in practice, very few pubs will be allowed to open late outside town centres.

Dismissing 24-hour licensing as "a spin doctor's deception", Stuart Neame, the company's vice-chairman, said: "The Bill allows local authorities to reject late licences on the basis of one objection, which can come from a resident, the police or one of their own departments.

"What will happen is that, in suburban and outlying areas, little will change and those who want to carry on drinking will be forced into town centres, as they are now. The rowdy binge-drinking culture there will continue."

His view appears to be widely supported. A survey of 1,000 landlords for the industry paper The Morning Advertiser found that 94 per cent opposed the introduction of local authority licensing.

However, Frank Dobson, the former health secretary, argues the Bill will not give councils enough power to clamp down on noise pollution caused by late-night drinking in residential areas.

Mr Dobson has learnt that a study commissioned by the Government into the potential for disturbance will be carried out by MCM Research, a company with strong ties to the licensing trade.

"As the Bill stands, it still won't allow councils to say, 'This street has too many pubs licensed for late hours and entertainment already'," Mr Dobson said.

Beneath the neon lights in the Famous Three Kings last Friday, the prospect of all-night drinking on New Year's Eve drew a strangely mixed response from regulars.

Iqbal Mohammed, 23, a trainee barrister, said: "Most of this anti-social behaviour occurs out of town. But the pubs out there won't be able to afford to pay their staff until 3am, so they will still have an early closing time, forcing people into town centres."

Jodie Brennan, 24, herself a licensee, said she had no problem with town-centre pubs staying open late but added: "I don't think this should happen in residential areas, where people with young children or work the next day will suffer from noise right into the night."

Santo Trafficant, a 29-year-old newsagent, was more optimistic. In time, he thought, a relaxation of licensing laws would foster a more mature drinking climate. "For the first year or so there will probably be some excessive drinking, but then people will calm down," he said. "We should have the same freedom people have in other countries to drink when we want to."

Pro and anti: the late-night line-up

For

Carol Vorderman, presenter and writer:

"I think late licensing will promote a more relaxed attitude to drinking. If we kept the current 11pm closing time, let's be honest, 18- to 25-year-olds would go out and get hammered in a club or wherever anyway.

"I'd prefer to think that youngsters were able to get hammered in a pub, rather than doing so out on the streets."

Claire Rayner, agony aunt and TV personality:

"I used to work in A&E, and people would pile in come chucking-out time.

"Hopefully the proposed changes will encourage people to drink more slowly, rather than rushing pints down before last orders."

Against

Jonathan Miller, director and writer:

"I think what we are witnessing is the deterioration of civic life. In my own part of north London, life has been transformed since I moved in 45 years ago.

"I haven't been to a pub or club for 40 years. There are more of those ghastly Rat and Parrots and Bull and Scrotums."

Frank Dobson, former health secretary:

"[Under the Licensing Bill] elected councils won't be able to make objections off their own backs. They are going to have to wait for someone else to complain first before they can take any action over a licence held by a pub that is becoming a nuisance."