Business decision made by a formerly thriving newsagent chain, now in chronic decline. Plenty of other places to buy them. To be honest, it is such a non-issue for almost everyone that I am surprised WH Smith bothered to come up with this inane rule.
As for the no stab knives and the banning of knives and whatever else people have heard, sorry, no. I am sure someone has dreamt up a design for no stab knives, but we have normal knives here, promise. Knives are restricted in the sense that kids cannot buy them, owning them as an adult is perfectly legal.
The thing about shatter proof pint glasses actually made some good sense in some areas. I think it originated in Manchester, the next city over from my one. ''Glassing'' attacks are one of the main forms of drunken violence that blight British towns and cities and they are absolutely horrific. It was not so much an issue of smashing then using the sharp edges of the glass as a weapon, people smash them into each others faces. I have seen it happen, it causes horrific injuries, massive mutilation to the facial tissues, people lose eyes etc. So, they swapped the glass for a high strength, low weight plastic in some pubs/clubs in Manchester which had particular problems with violence. They are not that widespread, and are quite widely disliked because it is impossible to enjoy beer properly out of plastic. Pretty much all normal pubs have proper glasses, made of glass.
Just like in the States, when large crowds/groups are served beer, it often comes in flimsy, cheap plastic cup things though.
Most violence in this country is alcohol related. I can't back that with stats, but it is well known to be the case amongst those who live here. Anyway, bit of a tangent there.
