Rogue promos gone in Scotland
The Scottish Government’s head of licensing says irresponsible promotions in Scotland have “all but disappeared” in advance of licensing reform.
Cox says rogue promos gone in Scotland
Gary Cox also called for pubs to always sell soft drinks cheaper than alcoholic ones — and revealed that minimum pricing will be dropped in Scotland if it is shown not to work. He spoke at the Responsible Drinks Retailing Awards.
Scotland’s tough new act goes live next year and Gary Cox, the head of alcohol and knives licensing, said the end of drinks promotions was an early success.
Licensees were doing their best to “get their houses in order” before September 2009, he said.
Patrick Browne, chief executive of the Scottish Beer & Pub Association (SBPA), said: “I wouldn’t be surprised if ‘irresponsible’ promotions are no longer operated.”
The SBPA’s promotion code was used as a basis for the Act, so the industry had already signed up to it, said Browne. He said only four of the nine promotion bans apply to the off-trade, which is “running some of the most irresponsible promotions”.
The Scottish Government’s alcohol policy, released in the summer, proposed minimum pricing of alcohol primarily to curb cheap deals in supermarkets.
Cox said there were queries about whether the policy would cut alcohol-related harm, but “this is not a reason not to try it”.
Cox added: “If the new pricing measures don’t work, they will be dropped.”
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