Plans to outlaw cheap alcohol and happy hours axed

[gmb45]

Plans to ban pub happy hours and supermarket bulk alcohol offers have been abandoned.

Ministers will announce next month they are ditching rules which would have let councils stop irresponsible drinks promotions.

Instead, they will say town halls will be given greater powers to review the licences of problem shops and pubs.

Binge Britain: Plans to ban pub happy hours and bulk alcohol discounts would have helped prevent binge drinking - but they have been dropped in favour of lighter measures

The code, which was supposed to tackle alcohol-related disorder, had been strongly opposed by the drinks industry.

The Home Office will now press ahead with a separate nine-point mandatory code, containing measures such as forcing pubs to offer wine in smaller glasses.

Chris Grayling, Tory Shadow Home Secretary, said: 'This is typical of a government that makes announcements to make itself sound good - but never actually does anything that really makes a difference. They really have run out of steam.'


The U-turn will be a major disappointment to police and doctors. Labour spent almost two years promising action against supermarkets which sell alcohol below cost price, known as 'loss leading'.

Police claim this practice is behind much of the alcohol-fuelled mayhem in binge Britain.

The ban would have worked by outlawing bulk discounts, such as 'buy one get one free'.



The decision to abandon the discretionary code will force changes to be made to the Policing and Crime Bill, which is going through Parliament.

The decision was taken by ministers earlier this week, and will be confirmed on November 3.

Other measures in the abandoned code included a ban on pub crawl promotions, and forcing pubs to make sure CCTV is in operation.

The mandatory conditions which will still go ahead include forcing stores to display signs warning pregnant women they must not drink.

Sellers must also put up posters warning of health problems caused by binge drinking such as obesity, heart disease and infertility.

Other conditions include a ban on 'all you can drink' and 'pub crawl' offers.

The climbdown came amid controversial claims from supermarket bosses that cut-price drink promotions were not contributing to Britain's binge drinking problem.

Executives of Sainsbury's, Asda and Waitrose told MPs on the Commons Health Select committee that any ban would not stop people with drink problems buying alcohol, but it would penalise sensible drinkers.

Research by Sheffield University has found that setting a minimum price of 50p per unit of alcohol would save 3,400 deaths a year.

Last night a Home Office spokesman said: 'We are determined to make sure that local authorities have the powers they need to deal with alcohol related crime and disorder.

'We have listened carefully to them and the licensed trade when discussing how the alcohol code will work.'

[ruudvandan]

If they want to solve the problem, then the councils need to have the power to revoke licenses without notice, and the revocation should stand whilst any appeal is ongoing. This is necessary to stop Tesco bully-boy tactics in stretching the legal proceedings out over a ridiculously long time which will deter the councils from taking action due to costs.

It does sound a bit extreme, but the only way to tackle the supermarkets is to hit them where it hurts, in the pocket.

[Bulld0g]

Why tackle the supermarkets at all. The binge drinkers are mainly younger people who don't care how much they pay anyway. You see them in pubs paying ?3.50 to ?4 for a bottle of beer,thats around about ?7-?8 a pint. Thats not a one off, they pay that all night long. The only ones who get hit are the DK PT types
Cheaper the booze the better.

[ruudvandan]

Why tackle the supermarkets at all. The binge drinkers are mainly younger people who don't care how much they pay anyway. You see them in pubs paying ?3.50 to ?4 for a bottle of beer,thats around about ?7-?8 a pint. Thats not a one off, they pay that all night long. The only ones who get hit are the DK PT types
Cheaper the booze the better.

I'm sorry but you're wrong. What they do is they get tanked up on supermarket booze before they go out, because it's cheaper.

Those who drink responsibly (the majority) would be better off if supermarkets scrapped drinks promotions see: Alcohol minimum price ?would slash grocery bills? | News | Retail Week

So you won't lose out, unless you're a heavy drinker.

[shuffs]

Why punish the majority for the idiotic behavior of dickheads.
Getting supermarkets to increase the price of alcohol will only
penalise the people who like a drink at home. For many its too
expensive to visit a public house. Would it be fair to price the
OAP's out of the market, maybe the police should be more
pro-active in clamping down on the antisocial miscreants
instead of blaming the price of alcohol.

[Bulld0g]

I'm sorry but you're wrong. What they do is they get tanked up on supermarket booze before they go out, because it's cheaper.

Those who drink responsibly (the majority) would be better off if supermarkets scrapped drinks promotions see: Alcohol minimum price ?would slash grocery bills? | News | Retail Week

So you won't lose out, unless you're a heavy drinker.

So i take it you dont drink alcohol then. Like i said look around you in the bars and see the kids not caring how much they pay for a bottle of beer. If the supermarket's stopped beer offers the kids would just go out earlier and get bladdered.

Do you really believe groceries would be slashed ? Not a chance m8. Is there any groceries slashed when beer is not on offer ? No there isn't.

[maca]

i blame the pubs and clubs for charging what ever they want. let the super stores sell premium lagers at low prices. the brewerys dont like it cos they had a strangle hold on beer prices for years and they dont like the compatition from the super markets.
stop your local corner shop from selling alcahol to young kids because thats the main problem its too easy for kids
to get some sad ~~~~er who is of legal age to buy it for them.

[ruudvandan]

So i take it you dont drink alcohol then. Like i said look around you in the bars and see the kids not caring how much they pay for a bottle of beer. If the supermarket's stopped beer offers the kids would just go out earlier and get bladdered.

Do you really believe groceries would be slashed ? Not a chance m8. Is there any groceries slashed when beer is not on offer ? No there isn't.

I used to drink, but don't any more. That's beside the point though. The point is that alcohol loss-leading is a marketing strategy used as an incentive to entice people into stores. If this practise were banned, then supermarkets would switch to something else, which as Dr Record states in his article, will benefit most people.

It's not only kids who are binge drinkers, I know people in their 40s and 50s who get bladdered on whiskey and beer at home every night. If cheap alcohol marketing were banned, it is people like this who would lose out. People who drink responsibly would be better off as they would benefit more from promotions in other areas.

[gmb45]

i blame the pubs and clubs for charging what ever they want. let the super stores sell premium lagers at low prices. the brewerys dont like it cos they had a strangle hold on beer prices for years and they dont like the compatition from the super markets.
stop your local corner shop from selling alcahol to young kids because thats the main problem its too easy for kids
to get some sad ~~~~er who is of legal age to buy it for them.

to right m8, from what i have seen the supermarkets r fairly strict when selling to young ens

[gmb45]

I used to drink, but don't any more. That's beside the point though. The point is that alcohol loss-leading is a marketing strategy used as an incentive to entice people into stores. If this practise were banned, then supermarkets would switch to something else, which as Dr Record states in his article, will benefit most people.

It's not only kids who are binge drinkers, I know people in their 40s and 50s who get bladdered on whiskey and beer at home every night. If cheap alcohol marketing were banned, it is people like this who would lose out. People who drink responsibly would be better off as they would benefit more from promotions in other areas.

cant see the problem with getting bladdered in your own home at least your not causing others any probs, like the police, ambulence, etc etc etc

[bvilleuk]

stop your local corner shop from selling alcahol to young kids because thats the main problem its too easy for kids
to get some sad ~~~~er who is of legal age to buy it for them.

Thats the problem around here -- very young children staggering around the streets at night drinking strong lagers [Carlsberg Special Brew etc] -- bought for them by older "children".

I blame the Parents who must know about it -- and don't care -- probably heavy drinkers themselves.

The children must find the money for the booze from somewhere!!

Most of the Local Area is now "Anti Street Drinking" -- which the Police, Rangers and Community Police are supposed to enforce -- but we rarely see them at night, if at all.

ALCOHOL is the worst drug -- available legally virtually 24 hours a day -- who would ever have thought my Local Garage [with all the drink driving laws] would be selling Booze??!! And this is with two Off Licences nearby!!

I have no objection to anyone having a drink and enjoying it -- as long as they don't end up at the local A & E because of it.

Booze really is the curse of the Working Classes !!