(FYI a Wetherspoons would be a restaurant here because it serves food. There’s no requirement to buy food, you get given a menu to make it look like you are still deciding despite being three pints in)
Oh, sure, as I said above, there are probably loads in the UK that have remained undiscovered because there's so little enforcement. The frequency of posting of Irish incidences is just because they have the word 'shebeen', which is easily searched for.
It’s a human condition not linked to any one nation. Here we can drink in a restaurant but bars are closed so there are almost daily raids like this:
https://www.dimsumdaily.hk/31-arrested-in-unlicensed-bar-in-kwun-tong/
(FYI a Wetherspoons would be a restaurant here because it serves food. There’s no requirement to buy food, you get given a menu to make it look like you are still deciding despite being three pints in)